Harry Potter, Age 10
by RainCityWriter
Summary: This is the third book in a trilogy, which starts with the Dursley's death when Harry is 8 and his subsequent placement with Snape as a caregiver and eventual adoptive parent. In this story Harry again goes to Hogwarts, where he attends a "pre-school" which is taught by Lupin. Warnings: parental spanking of a child (cp), some coarse language, talk of abuse, AU.
1. Chapter 1 - The Bludger

_Author's note: This is the continuation of the story started in Harry Potter, Age 8 and Harry Potter, Age 9. You can still read this story by itself, but things might make more sense if you peruse those stories first. But, as an update, in the first book Harry finds his guardians, the Dursley's, all killed and himself placed in the care of Severus Snape. In this book Snape starts out as a mean and indifferent guardian, but eventually they build an accord, and eventually thwart an attempt on Harry's life together. In the second story, Harry goes to Hogwarts to join a special "pre-school" class of others his age, and Lupin is their teacher. Once again a mysterious person threatens his life, and through the unraveling of the bad guy we see Harry make friends, gain confidence, and bond with his caregiver. At the end of the story, Snape officially adopts Harry._

 _Thank you for continuing on with me in this story, I am looking forward to seeing how Harry's last year before being an official Hogwarts student unfolds. I had a quick little hiatus with a story about Draco, and I'm excited to be back in this world._

 _Disclaimer: These characters are mostly derived from the works of JK Rowling (there are a few original characters about), and I do not profit in any way from my writing (except the kind reviews people leave me). I have decided not to write a disclaimer for every chapter, so assume that in all the chapters of this story I do not profit nor do I own these characters._

 _Disclaimer, part 2: This story will contain corporal punishment, or spanking of children. If this is a trigger or difficult thing for you, please read one of the other amazing stories on this site that does not contain it. This will be your final warning, I will not post chapter warnings. This is also not a manual in child rearing, nor does it reflect my own opinions of childrearing. And if you feel like you must flame me on this issue, just know that your posts will be deleted and they don't really bother me. Seriously, find another hobby._

* * *

Snape wondered what idiocy led him to agree to have Harry's 10th birthday party at the Weasley's house again. Molly had again outdone herself with the cake, this one was three different flavors and a tiny broomstick of spun sugar at the top. Harry of course was on the real-sized broomstick of his out in the yard with the passel of red-headed Weasleys, showing off the newest tricks he'd been working on during the summer.

All in all it had been a very good summer with Harry. Lupin had stayed over (since when had that werewolf become a relative?) for several weeks as well, and Draco had even visited without incident. Everything had just been feeling so . . . normal. Or at least what Snape thought normal might feel like for other people. His life had never been normal - from abused, neglected and outcast child to death eater to friendless Dungeon Bat to this new manifestation of his life - a father. He even had a friend if you counted that bloody werewolf. Where had his life as a near hermit gone to?

But there was a change even larger than he had dared to admit to himself - even bigger than having a friend and having erstwhile relatives like he had with the Weasleys. He had actually adopted the boy who lived, and he was now a legal father to the son of his childhood enemy and childhood friend. A father. Though he had felt the emotional reality of fatherhood since he had been decided to be Harry's guardian, the legal reality of it was something else entirely.

"The boys are out on their brooms," Molly informed him, coming in the front room. "I can't believe how much Harry has grown this summer."

"He has gotten taller," Snape acknowledged, trying not to feel smug. "It's amazing what proper nutrition can do for a boy."

"He seems so happy since the adoption, Severus," she told him quietly. "It is good to see the both of you so happy."

"He is a good lad," Snape answered her.

"I know Lupin is quite happy being his uncle too," Molly told him. "I've never seen him so happy. All he talks about is Harry."

"He's been actually quite helpful," Snape told her. "Who would have thought I would be able to stand one of the marauders years later?"

"We are, none of us, at our best during our school days," she told him. "That's certainly true for the marauders. But I always thought Lupin was the best of them."

"Perhaps," Snape answered. "Apparently Sirius was the worst."

"That always surprised me," she told him sadly. "They weren't in the same year as we were, but we were all friends. I was always shocked that he had betrayed them like that."

"He must have been out for them all along."

"That's just it," Molly told him. "Sirius had to permanently betray his whole family to join the order, there was no going back. And James' parents basically adopted Sirius during his last few years at school. His own folks were not . . . well suited for parenthood."

"That does make it all the more evil for the betrayal," Snape acknowledged. "He must have been mentally ill."

"I never thought that," Molly shook her head. "I just have no explanation. And killing twelve muggles while taking out poor Peter Pettigrew? He never had anything against muggles."

"The Dark Lord can have undue influence on weak minds," Snape told her softly. "I wonder if Sirius just succumbed to the pressure."

"I also just don't think that James and Lily were stupid," Molly shook her head again. "They chose you and Sirius as Godfathers, and I have to believe they were good judges of character."

"What are you saying, Mrs. Weasley?" he asked directly. "Are you saying that you think Sirius was unjustly imprisoned? That the real killer of the Potters is at large?"

"I don't know," she backpedaled, blushing. "I have no idea what is making me even talk to you about this. Maybe it was seeing you and Lupin become friends, it makes me realize how much the war really cost us."

"Perhaps," he answered, non-committally. He did not want to say anything, but the witch's questions rankled in his mind. She made sense - why had Sirius done it? Now that Snape had made his peace with Lupin - and on some level, James - the thought of Sirius niggled the back of his mind. Perhaps it was only his own close scrape with Azkaban, if Dumbledore hadn't applied personally for clemency for him he would be in Azkaban himself.

"P'fessor!" he heard one of the Weasleys cry out. "Come quick! Harry's taken a bludger to the head!"

Snape seemed instantly to be beside the unconscious Harry, casting a diagnostic charm and feeling his skull firmly.

"Is he alright?" he heard Molly ask him anxiously.

"Concussion," he answered tersely. "Sprained wrist."

"Dear me," she said. "You should go have Poppy look at him."

With a nod, Snape said, "He should be fine to move." Very carefully, Snape scooped the boy up in his arms and took him to the floo. It caught him off guard for a minute how much more solid Harry felt in his arms - he certainly had grown a lot since his last birthday. With a firm, "Hogwarts, Infirmary!" he was away back to Hogwarts.

Severus stepped through the floo, and took Harry over to one of the beds.

"What happened?" a woman's voice asked from behind him.

"Bludger to the head during Quidditch," Snape answered quickly. "Fell from a height. He has a concussion and a sprained wrist from my diagnostic. Fetch Madame Pomfrey at once."

"I am her fill in," the voice answered.

Snape turned sharply to see a uniformed mediwitch behind him, smiling calmly at him. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"I am Madame Pomfrey's niece," she answered in a thick highland brogue, arching her eyebrow. "I am a fully trained mediwitch, and a regular healer at St. Mungo's. I'm filling in for Aunt Poppy. Now, are ye goin' tae allow me tae see the patient?"

Glowering at the curly haired, plump witch, he replied, "And just how am I supposed to know that you are not some death eater disguised as a fussy, middle-aged spinster to gain my trust?"

Severus had expected hysterics from the woman, or maybe crying from the middle-aged comment. His glower was usually enough to send nice women aflutter, and reduce anybody with any self-doubt to tears. But when his glower returned to her face, he did not see hysterics nor did he see tears. Instead, he saw piercing blue eyes that were glowering right back at him.

"Ye will back off and let me examine that bairn now or I will hex ye tae the ceiling!" she challenged, actually pushing Snape to the side to begin her examination of Harry.

Snape pulled out his wand, not sure if he was going to hex her or help her, and then was taken aback by her soft crooning voice to Harry. He saw her deftly straighten Harry out and begin to examine his eyes with a flashlight, checking for responsiveness. Her careful fingers crept up his head, checking for swelling, and she checked his fingernails for color. Wordlessly, she withdrew her own wand and ran a diagnostic spell, frowning at the results.

"How long has he been out?" she asked sharply.

"Less than five minutes," Snape answered.

"Were you with him at the time?"

"No, he was outside playing with friends."

"What height did he fall from?"

"Probably fifteen feet, but I am not sure."

"When is the last time he ate?"

"He had lunch about an hour ago."

She didn't ask any more questions as she finished her examination, and then announced, "I do no believe there is permanent harm done."

As if her announcement had assured Harry himself, he began to rouse. Groaning, his hand went to where his head had hit.

"Where am I?" he asked, confused.

"The infirmary at Hogwarts," the Medi-witch told him. "I am Madame MacKenzie, and your father is here too."

"Dad?" Harry asked softly.

"You were hit by a bludger in the head," Snape told him quickly. "You were on your broom with the Weasleys."

"My birthday," Harry breathed, as if he were just remembering.

"Do you feel like you want to vomit?" Madame MacKenzie asked softly.

"Yes," Harry replied, in just enough time for the Mediwitch to conjure a small receptacle and put it under his chin. Harry vomited into the bin, his body racked by the spasms, and then he curled up back onto the bed, weak and shaky.

"It's normal to vomit a bit when ye get hit that hard," Madame MacKenzie told him softly. "There ye go, love, back in bed. Let me get you a soft cloth."

Snape watched as the Medi-witch fussed over Harry, wiping his mouth softly and banishing the receptacle of vomit.

"Are you feeling sleepy, love?" she asked him quietly.

"A little," he answered.

"I need ye tae stay awake for at least the next few hours," she told him. "Yer Dad can help with that. I'm going to floo over to St. Mungo's to pick up a few things, I will be right back."

"Okay," Harry answered, still shaky.

"Might I have a word with you, Dad?" she asked, gesturing over to the floo.

Snape felt torn about leaving Harry's side, but followed the woman over to the floo.

"He will be alright," she assured him. "But his concussion is a serious one. I'm going to fetch a few potions from St. Mungo's for now. But for the next six hours he needs to be closely observed and not allowed to sleep. Can ye be with him for that time?"

"I can," Snape answered stoically.

"Keep him quiet but entertained," she told him. "I will be right back."

And with that, the witch was gone through the floo and Snape looked back on Harry with consternation. Was this child never safe? Had he failed as a guardian by how many times this poor child ends up in the infirmary? Why had he let the lad play with the Weasleys who were all so much bigger and stronger than him?

"Are you there, dad?" he heard Harry ask softly.

"Right here," he replied, rushing to the boy's side.

"It's my fault, dad," Harry admitted hurriedly. "I asked for us to play with bludgers, even though Percy said we shouldn't."

"That was a foolish decision."

Harry flushed. "And then I was trying out this new triple loop that I thought would be able to evade the bludgers, so I told Ron to hit one at me . . ."

"Harry James Potter!" Snape snapped, picturing this all happening in his head. "If you try anything so foolish again I will have you right over my knee . . ."

"It's inhumane tae skelp a lad with a concussion," he heard the Medi-witch interrupt firmly. "And I told ye tae keep him quiet."

"So you did," Snape snapped, his face tight. He felt like a small boy who had been caught sneaking candy.

"Here, Harry, I have a few potions for ye," she turned her attention on her patient. "This first one will help with pain. Here ye go, let's get ye sat up first."

Harry felt his head swim as the gentle and sure hands of the healer helped him sit up, and he felt steadier as his Dad held him firmly. The healer held the first potion to his lips, and even though the taste made him gag, he swallowed it down. She gave him another, and then another, and soon he was feeling relaxed and in less pain.

"Now Harry, I want ye tae stay awake for at least six hours," Madame MacKenzie told him. "Your Dad will stay in here with ye. Ye shouldn't be in any pain, so if anything bothers ye have yer dad fetch me right away."

"Yes, Madame," Harry replied obediently.

"And do ye promise no tae scare him again?" she demanded, looking at Snape.

"I do, Madame," he replied with as much dignity as he could muster.

"Verra well," she answered, then turned to return to her small office. "Let me ken if there is any change."


	2. Chapter 2 - The Cake

_Author's note: A shout out to Gigampfi on the idea of Severus reading Harry a book. Also, there's some love/hate relationship with Madame MacKenzie. She isn't going to be a major character or focus, I just wanted her as an expository character here to mess with Snape a little, and as a plot point further in the story. Her primary purpose is not romantic in nature, but I won't rule that out either as the story progresses. The focus of the story will always be Snape and Harry._

* * *

"Who was she?" Harry asked as he watched the Medi-witch leave.

"I believe she is Madame Pomfrey's substitute," Snape told him coolly. "Apparently she's her niece."

"I like her," Harry said with a cheeky grin. "It's good to see someone not afraid of you."

"There are many people not afraid of me," Snape answered austerely. "And you happen to be one of them."

"No, I'm not afraid of you," Harry laughed. "But I do know you can wallop my bum, so I, well, respect you."

"I hope that's not the only reason," Snape sniffed. "I'm really fairly intimidating, even without a ruler."

Harry laughed then. He marveled at how easy it really was to talk to his new Dad, and how much he appreciated the man's dry humor. It hardly seemed real how afraid he was of his Dad when they had first met, and how horrible the man had been.

"You know," Harry began. "Muggles have things called televisions that provide entertainment in just such situations."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Televisions just rot your brain," he told him.

"But I have to stay awake!" Harry protested. "How am I supposed to stay awake just staring at you?"

"I can see how that would be a challenge," Snape answered, his lip twitching. "Very well, I shall fetch a book to read."

"Nothing with Potions!" Harry protested. "Please?"

"Very well," he nodded. "I believe Poppy keeps some novels around that would work."

Snape found a novel about a young, orphaned wizard who was trying to win a Potions contest, and decided that it would have to do. At least there might be some redeemable information in it about potions.

"Can you read it to me?" Harry asked, plaintive. "My eyesight still feels a little blurry."

Worried about the frailness of his son, Snape absently nodded and then began reading. The story was inane and insipid, with far too much time given reflection on the main character's feelings for Snape's taste. But when he started describing making potions . . .

"Bloody idiot!" Snape yelled at the book. "It's marrowroot you add, not bloodroot!"

"It's just a book," Harry answered, smirking.

"If there is to be any educational value to the book they ought to at least have the potions correct," he glowered.

"But isn't the point that he was brave?"

"Not the point at all!" Snape thundered. "What good is bravery if you muff up the potion?"

"I suppose it wasn't written by a Potions Master . . . " Harry snickered.

"It certainly wasn't!" Snape snapped.

"Are you men bored yet?" Harry heard the voice of Molly Weasley ask.

"We're reading a book," Snape replied with dignity.

"Well, since Harry never got his cake, would it be alright if we brought the party to him?" Molly asked. "Fiona said it would be fine."

"Fiona?" Snape asked, blank.

"The new healer," Molly answered with a smile. "Such a lovely girl."

Snape snorted, thinking "lovely" was the last adjective he would use with her. Maybe "ironsides" or "stubborn as a mule" would have better descriptive power.

"Please, dad?" Harry asked. "I would be sad not to get my cake."

Snape knew that he could hardly deny the boy anything, especially when he said the word "Dad." Though it was still strange enough to echo strangely in both their ears, Harry had been using it with increasing frequency that summer. And to good effect, apparently.

"Alright," Snape conceded. "But Molly, tell your offspring that they must not jostle Harry about or startle him at all."

"I will," Molly promised. "It will be fine, Severus."

And then the whole tribe of the Weasleys descended, although even Snape had to admit that Harry enjoyed himself. Apparently the ridiculously large cake was just enough for that rabble. Molly sliced it up and sent pieces around, and Snape himself even ended up with a chocolate slice with raspberry filling.

"Harry, how are you?" Snape heard Lupin ask him. "All patched up?"

"My head hurts a bit," Harry admitted. "But I think for the most part I'm fine."

"I suspect your father has impressed upon you the importance of caution with new Quidditch moves?"

"He has," Harry smirked. "It got him in trouble with the new Medi-witch."

"It did, did it?" Lupin smirked back. "She seems very nice, Severus."

"Bite your tongue," Snape snapped back. "She's a harridan, a scold. The sooner Poppy returns, the better."

"I think he protests too much," Lupin laughed to Harry. "I remember Fiona from school, she was a few years behind us. Ravenclaw."

"Don't be ridiculous," Snape snapped. "Now, we don't want Harry to get too worked up with his concussion."

"Absolutely," he heard the Medi-witch comment behind him. "We wouldn't want 'the harridan' to return and scold his father for it."

Snape sneered to hide the horrifying sensation he felt to blush. Why did that woman make him feel like an eleven year old firstie explaining himself to the headmaster?"

Harry and Lupin burst into laughter, though they had the manners to try and hide it behind their hands.

"I am here tae examine the patient," she told them pertly. "It has been six hours since his injury, and if he is doing fine then it is time for him tae sleep."

"I love your accent, Madame MacKenzie," Lupin said, recovering from his mirth. "Where in Scotland are you from?"

"The North," she answered him with a sniff, somewhat mollified. "A wee village outside of Inverness."

"And how long will you be staying here?"

"Aunt Poppy is on her holidays now," she explained. "But I might be popping in a bit during the year too as she might have need. She is no so young as she once was, ye ken?"

"It will be nice to have you around," Lupin told her, his eyes dancing. "Harry seems fine, however."

"We'll just check tae make sure," she told him. "Alright, Harry, how are ye feeling?"

"Fine," he told her. "My head still hurts a bit, though."

"Dizzy? Are your eyes blurry?"

"No," he answered. "I can see fine."

After she examined him and ran another diagnostic spell, she nodded curtly. "I think ye are goin' tae be fine," she told Harry. "I would like tae keep ye here overnight just to make sure."

"Can my dad stay with me?" Harry asked.

Snape, his heart still lurching just a tiny bit whenever Harry called him dad, now had his heart warm up enormously. Imagine the boy not wanting to stay without him! The boy asked for him as Ron might ask for Molly. He could hardly hide the smug look on his face, but turned towards the Medi-witch.

"I will make a bed appropriate to sleep here with him," Snape informed her. Just let her try and argue with him.

"Excellent," she answered to Snape's surprise. "It would be better tae have someone sleeping out wi' him. Now, it might be time tae wrap this party up."

Madame MacKenzie proved very efficient at shooing out the remaining Weasleys, and soon the room was empty but for them and Lupin. He was giving Lupin instructions to put the potion he had left brewing in stasis for him.

"Would you like me to bring anything for you?" Lupin asked.

"I should be fine," Snape answered. "I can transform my clothes into pajamas, and anything else I need I'm sure I can procure on my own."

"I'll see you back at Spinner's End tomorrow, then," Lupin told him with a smile. "Enjoy your time here."

"Like I could!" Snape shot back.

After Lupin floo'd away, Madame MacKenzie returned with another potion for Harry to sleep and what looked suspiciously like a nightcap for him. He gave the potion to Harry, who instantly fell into a deep sleep.

"What is this?" Snape asked suspiciously, looking at the other glass.

"I thought ye could use it," she answered simply. "I ken that firewhiskey is all the rage, but I thought ye might just be a Scotch man. I thought a wee drop before bed might not go amiss."

"Thank you," he told her, picking up the glass. "I do rather like Scotch."

"Yer partner seems like a nice man," she told him conversationally.

Snape nearly spit out the small sip he'd taken of the Scotch, so shocked was he. "My partner?" he gasped.

"The nice man that was just here, was his name Lupin?"

"He is not my partner," Snape choked.

"There is no shame in it, ye ken," she told him reproachfully. "This is the modern age."

"There is no shame," Snape agreed. "But it is not so. Lupin is, well, he's like family to Harry. So he's become like family to me too. He's a friend."

"I'm sorry, I should no ruffle ye so," she smiled, letting him off the hook. "'Tis none o' my business anyway."

Snape harrumphed in reply.

"I do have tae fill out my paperwork for this, though, so can I ask a few questions?"

"Certainly."

"I saw the scar, and so I'm assuming that the lad is truly Harry Potter?"

"He is," Snape confirmed.

"Which makes ye his adoptive father, Severus Snape, Potions Master for Hogwarts, is that correct?"

"Correct." And with that one answer it felt as if all was right in the world. He was Severus Snape, Father to Harry Potter.


	3. Chapter 3 - Closure

Author's note for translation of last chapter: Ken or kent is a word scots use to say know or knew - She kent that he was nice, you ken?

* * *

Harry woke in the infirmary, and felt a sudden sense of unease. Where was he? When he saw the early morning light filtering through the tall windows in the sleeping form of his father, he smiled. Imagine his dad staying with him here just because he asked? His heart felt warm thinking about how much this man had done for him. Harry also noticed that the bed Snape had transfigured for himself was plenty wide, it was wide enough for two.

Unable to resist the idea of an early morning snuggle, and figuring that Snape couldn't resist him because he'd been injured, Harry crept out of his bed and carefully placed himself beside Snape. He felt the man's body momentarily stiffen, and then relax. He placed an arm over Harry and pulled him against his chest. Then they both fell asleep together.

They woke again as Madame MacKenzie brought in their breakfast trays, and Snape's cheeks reddened at her finding the boy in bed with him. How was he going to maintain the image of the evil Dungeon Bat if people saw him cuddling his son like this?

Lupin arrived as they were finishing their breakfast, and he brought Snape a copy of the paper. With a significant look at Harry, he said, "You might be interested in page six. If you'd like a minute to change, I can stay with Harry."

Nodding, Snape left them as Lupin sat with Harry. "I think we might be going shopping over the weekend if you're up for it," Lupin told Harry. "We need to get all of your supplies for school."

"Will there be new kids in our class this year?" Harry asked, eating his bacon. "I mean, is it going to be just the same?"

"I think it will mostly be the same," Lupin answered. "But of course I need a new teaching assistant."

"Could you get one this time that isn't bent on killing me?" Harry smiled.

"I shall do my best," Lupin replied, grinning impishly. "But in my defense, who would have thought? Amanda was so sweet."

"You have to watch out for the sweet ones," Harry laughed. "Mean and nasty is the way to go."

"I will see what I can do," Lupin laughed. "Oh, here comes your father."

Snape returned, dressed in fresh clothes and with a tight grimace on his face. Harry eyed the look warily, was there something in the paper that had made him upset?

"Remus, would you be alright looking after Harry for a few hours? I have some business to attend to."

"Of course," Remus replied. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine," Snape replied in a way that they both knew wasn't fine. "I just have a few people to talk to, that's all. As soon as the harridan gives Harry permission to leave, why don't you go back home and I'll meet you there for lunch. If I miss lunch, eat without me."

"We will do that," Remus agreed. "Harry and I were just talking about a shopping trip this weekend to Diagon Alley, do you think that would work for you?"

"Probably," Snape replied. "But for now I must go."

Snape arrived in the floo at the Ministry of Magic with his cape flapping and his boots crunching the ground beneath him. How dare they do something like this and not even inform him! Surely they knew his history with the little blighter.

Snape entered the office of House Elvin affairs with a sweep of his cape. The small woman behind the front desk paled when she saw him, and hurriedly called for her supervisor. "Madame," she called nervously. "Professor Snape is here."

"Professor Snape," the Secretary for House Elvin Affairs greeted him. "What can I do for you?"

"Page six," Snape snapped at her. "I had to find out in the bloody newspaper!"

"Our policy is to send an owl after the execution is done, not before," the woman told him.

"I want to talk to the prisoner," Snape told her darkly.

"That is not our normal policy . . ."

"I don't care about normal policies," Snape told her, glowering dangerously. He looked at the woman critically - would she respond better to threats or emotions? Emotions, definitely emotions.

"This elf assaulted and then attempted to kill my son," Snape told her, his voice heavy with emotions that he surprisingly did not have to invent. "I need to have words with him before his execution. For closure."

"We are merely the liaisons, not the authorities in these situations," the woman tried to explain, but Snape could tell her resolve was wavering.

"Please allow me to see him," Snape repeated, unmoved. "You could do it if you really wanted to do it."

The woman had to admit he was right, she could do it. And though Snape certainly deserved to see the elf one last time, she still worried. This wasn't proper procedure.

"You may not touch him at all," the woman croaked, realizing she was giving in.

"Of course not," Snape promised smoothly. "I won't touch him."

"Or hex him, or harm him in any way."

"I will do nothing other than speak to him," Snape promised. "You may keep my wand if you wish."

"That is unnecessary," the woman replied, wondering who would have the bravery to actually take the potion master's wand away from him. "He is being held in one of our holding chambers within. Please follow me."

"Certainly."

Snape followed the woman through a warren of tunnels lined with doors, until they came to a very plain, nondescript door. The Secretary took her wand, and after casting an unlocking charm, gestured for Snape to enter.

The past year and a half had not been kind to the small house elf. Where once he had been barrel-chested and brusque, Snape could now see the outlines of his ribs. His hearty muscles had shrunk, and Snape doubted very much if the elf could beat Harry as he had done on the last day of his employment with Snape.

"I will leave you alone," the Secretary told him. "You have a half hour, but knock if you wish to end sooner."

"I will," Snape promised, and then turned his attention on the small elf in the corner.

"Don't hurt me!" the elf protested. "Don't hurt me!"

"You deserve to be hurt," Snape told the elf, acid dripping from his tongue. "But I am not going to do it. It seems the Elven Council has already decided your fate."

"Poison," Treadle confirmed. "In two days."

"So if I am not here to hurt you or kill you, why do you think I am here?"

"Yous questions, master?"

"I am not your master," Snape told him. "Apparently I never was."

"She made me do it!" Treadle protested. "She made me be a spy!"

"And yet the Elven Court finds you guilty."

"Not for spying," Treadle admitted, looking down. "Was for hurting human. For beating boy and almost killing."

"Which you're not allowed to do even under orders," Snape confirmed. "So that brings me to my question and the reason that I'm here. Why did you do it?"

"I dunno," the little elf answered. "I wants to please Mistress. She hate Potter boy sos much."

"How did you work for me for so long?" Snape asked. "Didn't you want to return to your mistress?"

"I did," Treadle admitted, tears forming in his eyes. "So much. But shes said no, I was needed with yous. Then when Potters boy come, Mistress so happy. She want kill Potter boy."

"I see," Snape answered. He was finding this whole interview less than satisfying. He had wanted Treadle to say something, to do something that would make him feel satisfied. But really, he was just a pathetic little elf who had loved his mistress so much that he had broken the law for her. And now he would be executed.

"Poor Mistress, her sons betrays hers. All alone, at the end."

"Regulus betrayed her?" Snape asked, incredulous. He had thought Regulus was dyed in the wool Black. And even Sirius had come around to their way of thinking. Surely the elderly Walburga Black would have been overjoyed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters and killed muggles.

"In the end," Treadle confirmed. "And Sirius boy, so bad. Break mistress heart."

"But he went back to them in the end."

"No, he always bad," Treadle insisted. "Mistress visits him at Azkabans. Said he no same as before, bloody Gryffindor. She nos help him, he rot there."

"Are you saying that your mistress visited Sirius in prison and said he should rot there because he wasn't changed?"

"Yes, masters," he replied.

"Very interesting," Snape replied, deep in thought. Why was that bloody Marauder mentioned to him by two different people? And, if he had betrayed the Potters and killed those muggles, had Walburga not lauded him?

"Well, Treadle, I'm happy that you are getting what you deserve. I will hold nothing else against you."

Treadle wasn't sure how to answer that, and just stared.

"But I do want you to know that the machinations of you and your Mistress have come to naught. Harry Potter is a happy, healthy boy and he is being raised by me."

"You still have him?"

"I adopted him," Snape answered. "He is now the sole heir for my estate, as well as his parents' one. So he is happy, loved, and rich. So your plans were foiled."

"I failed," Treadle looked down, tears now streaking his face. "I knows I failed. Poor Mistress."

"And now I will take my leave of you. Farewell, house elf."

Snape was lost in thought as he made his way through the Ministry on his way back home. He had some thinking to do. And, perhaps, another prisoner to visit.


	4. Chapter 4 - Shopping

The shopping trip did not go as planned. It had started well, with a successful order of school clothes and books. Lupin had helped him find the books for his class, and Snape was perusing the newest potion periodicals.

"Do you think I could buy a fun book too?" Harry asked Lupin, looking at all the school books in his basket.

"We'll have to ask your father," Lupin answered. "But I don't see why not. As long as it's not that one you got him to read to you, he hated that one."

Harry giggled. "It was so funny to have him read me a fun book," Harry admitted. "With his deep, serious potions voice and he was reading all about these twelve year olds trying to be in a potions contest."

"It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd written the potions part correctly," Lupin laughed back at him.

"He was all like, 'And then the boy added bloodroot to the potion because he was a dunderhead and can't read a recipe . . ." Harry used his best potions master voice.

"And he still has excellent hearing," the heard the real Potions Master intone.

Looking guilty, Harry and Lupin exchanged glances and looked away. Harry decided to not ask for the book, he was too embarrassed at the moment.

"You may choose two books for pleasure, Harry," Snape told him. "It's important to have some fun books as well."

"Thanks, dad," he smiled at the man, and then went to start looking for a fun book.

"Hmph," Snape replied, and went back to his journals. Really, the boy was so easy to embarrass. And to please.

Harry had picked up several books, and, turning to Lupin to ask his opinion, accidently knocked over a display of books by some wizard who had a toothy picture of himself on the cover. Harry watched in horror as the books fell over, seemingly in slow motion, and that in turn crashed into a table that had glass ornaments and vials on it, sending them smashing to the ground as well. Everyone in the whole store exclaimed, and Harry froze in terror. The shopkeeper began wailing about her lost merchandise and profit margin, and about the clumsiness of unattended children.

"Harry!" Harry heard Snape exclaim, and suddenly the frozen part of him shattered, and he found his feet. He flew to the back of the busy store, ensconcing himself in the cupboard at the back of the store.

Snape, forcing himself to calm and remind himself that it had clearly been an accident. He turned to Lupin, "Repair what you can, have them tally what can't be repaired and put it on my bill."

Lupin, nodding, went to the shopkeeper to calm her and assure her of payment. Trying to ignore the general mayhem that had followed Harry's display, Snape quickly made his way to the back of the store. He found the cupboard that the miscreant had taken shelter in, and stood outside, calming his nerves. He could feel the boy's fear radiating out from him through the cupboard door, and he had to use occlumency to push down his own feelings of fear and panic that the boy's fear was triggering. For a second he had been that small boy in a store, knocking over a box of cereal, and hearing his father's voice and hard hand. With deep breaths, he pushed that memory back and calmed himself. He would need to be calm to deal with the boy.

He opened the door silently and closed it again, waiting for the boy to speak. The child turned one baleful look at him, and then buried his face in his arms, sobbing. With chagrin, Snape realized that the look was to see if he had a cane with which to beat the child. He sighed in frustration, there didn't seem to be anything he could do to convince the child that he wasn't going to abuse him. He knew the child was in full panic mode, he wanted his adrenaline to calm down before they talked.

Harry felt Snape's presence in the cupboard, and looked at him in consternation. Automatically, he looked a the man's hands to see what implement he meant to use on him, and felt relief when he had nothing with him. _He could still transfigure something,_ Harry thought woefully. He couldn't believe that he wouldn't suffer severe punishment, he had seen everything that was broken and disrupted. Some things could be repaired, but he knew that not everything could be.

"Was it very much money?" he asked quietly, not able to handle the silence any more.

"I don't know," Snape answered, as if it were nothing. "Lupin is settling the account."

"I'm so sorry," Harry told him, burying his face in his arms and sobbing. "So sorry."

"It was an accident," Snape told him softly. "You did not do it on purpose."

"I knocked over all those . . . "

"It's alright, Harry," Snape assured him. "It was an accident. You are not in trouble."

"But I . . ."

"I know exactly what you did, Harry," Snape assured him. "I was right there. It was an accident. You've just been growing a bit and don't have good control of your arms and legs."

"Is the shopkeeper very mad?"

"Maybe a bit," Snape told him judiciously. "But that can be changed with coin, so do not trouble yourself."

"Are you going to punish me?"

"Bravo, Harry," Snape replied with an almost smile. "One year ago you would have been sure I would send you away or beat you terribly. You are asking about a reasonable punishment, not assuming that I would do something completely horrible. I guess you won't get lines this time."

"Does that mean that I'm off the hook?"

"I would like you to apologize to the shopkeeper," Snape told him. "It's good manners."

"I can do that," Harry replied, wiping his eyes. "But everything else is going to be alright?"

"Well, I would like to talk to you a bit about your propensity to hide in broom cupboards when you are scared, but we don't have to have that discussion now."

"It just feels safer," Harry admitted, looking down. "It's harder to hit someone when they're crammed in a cupboard."

"I see," Snape answered softly.

"You still can," Harry admitted. "But it's harder to do it hard, especially with a belt. And sometimes they would be satisfied with me just being in there as a punishment. Although I hated when I didn't get fed for days."

"That was smart of you to do," Snape answered softly again, though it was only through the strongest use of occlumency that he wasn't raging in anger at those horrible muggles. _They should be happy they're dead,_ Snape thought darkly to himself. _It's much kinder than what I would have done to them._

"It was always all about surviving," Harry admitted. "Getting enough food to not starve, staying out of the way enough to not get hit too much, and doing enough chores that I survived."

"You know that was child abuse, right?" Snape asked him softly. "That's not how kids are normally supposed to be in a family."

"I knew that it was different than how they treated Dudley," Harry admitted. "But I didn't really know what it was like to be part of a good family. Not until now."

Snape warmed at his words, letting some of his anger slip away. Yes, his son had had a truly horrid childhood up until he was eight, but Snape was responsible from now on. And he would make it a better one.

"I don't want to say this," Harry told him quietly. "But I feel so guilty. It would be easier if you were to spank me, then I would feel like I paid for what I did."

"I can see how you would think that," Snape nodded. "And there may be times that I would spank you to alleviate your guilt. But this is not one of them."

"I don't really want to get spanked."

"I know," Snape answered. "You just want absolution."

"What does that mean?"

"It's complicated," Snape answered, thinking about his search for absolution in his own life. "But mostly what it means is a feeling as if we've paid for something, or that we've made it right. It's a feeling that we don't have to be guilty."

"I do feel really guilty about knocking that display down."

"It was a harmless mistake," Snape told him, sitting down on the floor cross-legged. "And one which the shopkeeper will be paid for. Now, I am not going to administer a spanking for this offense, but perhaps you would like me to administer a hug?"

Harry practically leapt into Snape's lap, and Snape wrapped his arms around the small boy. He felt the child's tensions drain out of his body as they hugged, and his breathing regulated. _This is what he really needed,_ Snape acknowledged, stroking Harry's hair fondly.

"I do have something to tell you, since we are having a heart to heart," Snape told him. "It's about the article in the paper that Lupin pointed out to me."

"What was it?" Harry asked, burning with curiosity.

"It's about our old house elf, Treadle."

At that name, Harry's eyes grew round and he looked at Snape in surprise. He had nearly forgotten about that horrid house elf that had starved him and beaten him. It had been so long ago - back when Snape was mean to him. His shoulders hitched a bit in fear, and remembering.

"What about him?"

"Well, he's been caught and tried in an Elven court," Snape explained. "He was executed yesterday evening."

"He's gone?"

"Yes, he's gone."

"Did you see him before he . . . you know."

"Yes, I did," Snape admitted. "I went and saw him. I wanted to know why he had done what he had done, but in the end the answer wasn't satisfying. He had simply wanted to impress his crazy mistress, and therefore came after you. He had been spying on me all along."

"It's hard to believe that he's gone," Harry told Snape. "Sometimes I still have nightmares about him."

"He's gone," Snape assured him. "If you had seen him at the end he probably would not have scared you in the slightest. The last year and a half on the run has not been easy for him."

"Did you feel sorry for him?" Harry asked, sniffing.

Snape took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to answer his son and not sound cold and hard. "Well, he was certainly a pathetic creature," Snape affirmed. "But he also injured my son and was involved in a plot that nearly killed him. So no, I do not feel sorry for him. He made his own choices."

"What if he'd asked for forgiveness?" Harry asked. "For absolution."

"He didn't, child," Snape answered.

"But what if he had?"

"I don't know," Snape admitted. "I would like to think that I would have forgiven him, but I want you to know that it is not in my nature."

"But then what about me?" Harry asked in a small voice. "What if I'm so bad someday that you won't forgive me?"

"That can never happen," Snape told him firmly.

"But if you can't forgive Treadle . . ."

"Then I will work on forgiving Treadle," Snape answered. "But please know that I am your father, and part of that means I will always forgive you, even if I have trouble with forgiving other people. And forgiveness doesn't mean a lack of consequences."

"Okay," Harry answered, assured.

"Then if you're ready, let's go make your apology to the store owner."

"What should I say?" Harry asked, beginning to look panicked again.

"The truth, of course," Snape told him firmly. "And your sincerest regrets about the accident."

Harry followed Snape out of the cupboard, and found that the display had been mostly repaired by the combined efforts of Lupin and other patrons in the store. He knew his face was bright red, and he looked away from the mess he'd created.

"It's mostly done," Lupin told Snape as the two emerged. "The shopkeeper is just working on a total bill now."

Snape nodded, and led Harry over to where the shopkeeper was examining several trinkets that had been broken and recording them in her book.

"My son has an apology for you," Snape told her firmly.

"I am very sorry," Harry told her, his bottom lip quivering and his eyes stuck firmly on his shoes. "It was an accident. I am sorry that I made a mess and broke the things."

"We all have been clumsy as children," she sniffed. "It is quite alright, young man. Just be more careful in the future."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, relieved.

"And since your father and your uncle have seen fit to fix and pay for everything, all is forgiven."

"Thank you, ma'am," he answered, daring to look up. The woman definitely had a stern way about her, but Harry found her not unpleasant.

"Then I will pay and we shall return home," Snape announced. "Well done, Harry."


	5. Chapter 5 - Azkaban

The Sirius Black issue had rankled Snape to the point that he decided to talk to the Werewolf about it. Surely then he could lay the matter to rest. So that night as the two men had their tea before the fire after Harry had been tucked into bed, Snape decided to bring it up with the man.

"Thank you for alerting me to that newspaper article the other day," Snape began. "Did you know that I went and saw the house elf?"

"I figured you had," Lupin answered, sipping his own tea, his eyes bright with curiosity. "DId you find what you wanted?"

"Not really," Snape answered, wondering how honest to be with the man. Sure, this man had become the closest friend that Snape had ever had besides Lily - but he still didn't trust easily. "Not what I wanted, anyway."

"Do you know what you wanted?"

"Not really," Snape admitted. "I guess I wanted some clue, some way to let this not happen to me again. Some hint as to where not to place my trust. Or maybe some remorse that he had done it."

"And you didn't get any of that from the deranged house elf?" Lupin asked with a grin.

"Surprisingly, no," Snape answered, a small answering smile on his lips. "But what I did get was a piece of odd information that I'm not sure what to do with."

"And you think I can help?"

"Perhaps," Snape answered, with another sip of tea. "It has to do with Sirius Black."

A dark shadow passed Lupin's normally jovial face, and he set down his teacup in concern. "What did you find out?" he asked flatly.

"Treadle said that his poor mistress was abandoned by both of her sons before her death," Snape told him. "And I found that very much surprising."

"Regulus surprised me," Lupin admitted. "He always seemed very dedicated to the Black family virtues. Sirius was surprised as well."

"Sirius knew?"

"He didn't know much," Lupin admitted. "But it had something to do with Kreacher their house elf. I mean, Regulus had the dark mark and everything, and was espousing all the pureblood rhetoric and everything. But something happened to make him think that he wanted to back out, something to do with Kreacher. Sirius never found out exactly what, the crazy old house elf didn't like him and wouldn't tell him very much at all. Regulus was kind of a prick, but he was actually very kind to the house elves, and they loved him fiercely. Anyway, as Sirius said, the Dark Lord wasn't really up for letting people resign, so Regulus was killed."

"That is very interesting," Snape said, digesting the news. "How did Sirius feel about it?"

"He didn't really like Regulus," Lupin admitted. "But he was surprisingly sober about his death. I think it was a little hard for him that his brother was murdered trying to break away from the Dark Lord."

"And we can assume that Walburga Black did not take Regulus' defection from the death eaters well."

"I don't know for sure," Lupin answered, rubbing his temples. "But what you said about what Treadle said that seems likely."

"There is another interesting fact that Treadle gave me," Snape said carefully, watching his friend's features carefully. "It seems that old lady Walburga went to Azkaban to see Sirius at some point shortly following his arrest. It seems that she may have went hoping that he had changed, given that he had betrayed the Potters and slaughtered muggles. But she came back home angry, saying that he hadn't changed a bit and deserved to rot in prison."

"But that means . . ." Lupin trailed off, visibly paling and nearly dropping his tea.

"Yes, that is exactly what it means," Snape told him gently. "It means that there is a possibility that Sirius Black is innocent."

Lupin held his head in his hands and focused on breathing. The blood rumbled to his ears and he felt faint. Wordlessly, he took the calming draught that Snape pressed into his hands and drank it down in one gulp. Gradually, he found his breathing calming and his heart rate slowing, and he found he was able to talk again.

"How could this have happened?" Lupin asked, incredulous.

"I have no idea," Snape answered, still watching his friend carefully but recognizing that the initial shock was over. "I was assuming you would know more than I do."

"Well, Sirius was their secret keeper," Lupin told Snape. "So when he Dark Lord found them, we all assumed it had to have been him. And then when they arrested him on the street after killing Pettigrew and the muggles, well, he was apparently mostly incoherent and just kept repeating that it was all his fault. So they put him in Azkaban."

"Was there no trial?" Snape asked softly.

"There wasn't, well, because he seemed to have confessed from his own mouth," Lupin replied. "You remember those times, Severus. The war had ended, people were being hunted down and sentenced. I believe you had a trial then too."

"A hearing," Snape corrected. "Dumbledore . . . vouched for me. I never made it to the trial."

"And everyone just believed it. I don't know."

"DId you believe it?"

"I thought I did," Lupin answered. "Much to my own shame. But I heard him say it - I saw the pensieve memory of him saying it. And the look in his eyes - all crazed anger and guilt. I thought he had somehow, I don't know, snapped somehow. Had a psychotic breakdown. That was better than thinking he'd been playing us for fools all along."

"Have you ever spoken to him since that day?" Snape asked.

"I have . . . thought about it, over the years," Lupin admitted. "But I have never been able to bring myself to do so."

"I think it might be time," Snape told him, reflecting.

"How do we do it?" Lupin asks, nodding.

"I think it should be you, but not you," Snape told him. "Polyjuice. And you should be somewhere where it is indisputable that you are you, so that they know the fake you went to Azkaban. It has to be somewhere warded against polyjuice, somewhere like the Ministry or Gringotts."

"The Ministry doesn't like Werewolves," Lupin told him, edgy. "But maybe I can visit Arthur. We can then go to Gringotts together."

"That should be adequate," Snape told him.

"What do we hope to find out from him?" Lupin asked.

"The truth," Snape answered. "And I am going to try to get it out of him as his worst enemy."

* * *

Snape was frankly astonished at how easy it was to get into Azkaban. Apparently nobody really wanted to break in, so the security was somewhat lax. The few wizards that did help run Azkaban were uninterested in the rumpled, shaggy man that applied to see the notorious Sirius Black. They had been school friends, he had explained, and had come to tell him of his house elf's death.

They barely paid attention, recorded his name, and escorted him to the cell. Snape could feel the steady drain of being close to so many dementors, but occlumency kept his feelings steady. He would not give in to the despair, he could cope for the length of time that the visit would take. He shuddered, thinking how easily residence in a place like this could have been his fate. If it hadn't been for Dumbledore . . .

Snape found himself in a bare, stone room with the broken-down form of his former nemesis laying in a dirty, ragged cot. A childish part of him was happy to see Sirius brought so low, but that was only a small part. The larger part of him recognized how this wreck of a man was once a powerful and formidable foe, and now he looked like a Cornish Pixie could take him.

"Sirius Black," he intoned.

"Lupin?" he asked, groggy. "Is that you?"

"It is not," Snape told him harshly. "It is a ruse."

"Who are you?"

"I am Severus Snape," he answered him with bile in his voice.

"I don't believe you," Sirius spat, turning away from him. "You are just the latest torture."

"Let me assure you that I am real," Snape spat at him. "But perhaps that does not mean that I am not your latest torture."

"Did you bribe the guards to come in and beat me?" Sirius smirked. "Have at it then, Snivellus. I deserve it. Maybe you can even go all the way and put me out of my misery."

"Not that I would argue with you," Snape told him. "But why do you deserve it?"

"Just get to punching me already," Sirius exclaimed grumpily. "Or go away."

Snape's eyes narrowed, he began to suspect what was going on with him.

"You do deserve it," Snape told him. "Stand up and take your beating."

Sirius actually staggered up and faced Snape. Snape could not stomach hitting the man, he scarcely was able to stand. Sirius grinned in reckless abandon, and sarcastically said, "Come now, Snivellus. Surely your death eater instincts can kick in enough to give me a proper beating. Surely you don't have sympathy on me, the man that made your school days miserable. Come on then."

"Tell me what you know about Lily and James Potter," Snape told him sternly.

"What?" Sirius asked, confused. "Why do you want to know about them?"

Snape could see the edge of madness in the man's eyes, and chided himself that he could hardly imagine the man to be sane after ten years in this place. The fact that he was able to be mostly coherent was actually very surprising, so surprising it was almost suspicious.

"I want to know everything you know about that night," Snape told him firmly. "And perhaps I will spare you your beating."

"Doesn't everyone know?" Sirius asked. "It was my fault that the Potters died."

'Yes, yes, you were their secret keeper," Snape told him. "But why did you betray them to the dark Lord?"

"What do you mean you greasy git?" Sirius sneered. "It was my fault because I convinced the Potters to change their secret keeper. I was too obvious. My fault."

To his horror, Snape saw that large tears began to form in the broken Marauder's eyes, and he began to weep.

"Pull yourself together," Snape hissed. "I haven't even hit you yet."

"My fault," Sirius repeated, his breath hitching with his tears. "My fault." Sirius fell to the ground, kneeling and sobbing.

"Who was their secret keeper, then?" Snape asked, exasperated. He was not going to bloody hug the man, it did not matter what information he needed.

"Peter," Sirius choked out. "Peter Pettigrew."

"You killed him," Snape snapped. "Along with twelve muggles."

"I was trying to capture him for what he'd done," Sirius sobbed. "But I couldn't. He got away, and I got blamed. But it was my fault anyway."

"You've been bloody wallowing in self-pity for all these years?" Snape exploded. "You were so convinced of your own guilt that you let your bloody godson be raised by abusive muggles?"

"Harry?" Sirius repeated, the name shaking him out of his tears. "Where's Harry?"

"He was raised by abusive muggles until they died when he was eight," Snape told him. "And after that he was raised by me."

"By you?" Sirius repeated, his eyes bugging. "How could even you be so heartless? Torturing a poor boy?"

"Back to that night," Snape directed him. "How did you kill Peter?"

"I didn't," Sirius admitted. "He got away."

"How could he have done that on a crowded street?" Snape asked, incredulously. "They also found a finger."

"Then there's some rat out there missing a finger," Sirius cackled wildly.

Madness, Snape decided. His mind is like a sieve.

"Tell me one thing, Black," Snape looked him fiercely in the eye. "Tell me the truth. Are you innocent?"

"Not innocent," Sirius told him, shaking his head. "I'm just not in here for the crimes you think I am."

"Then why are you in here?" Snape asked, incredulous.

"It is my fault," Sirius told him, whispering. "My fault. I told them to change their secret keeper."

"So then other than being abysmally foolish and clearly insane in accepting punishment for something you didn't do, are you actually guilty of a crime?"

"No," Sirius admitted.

"Then why have you allowed yourself to be locked up all these years?"

"Absolution," Sirius answered.

Snape's face softened at that, he understood. "A lot of good your Absolution did Harry," Snape told him with distain, and then turned to leave.

"Don't hurt him," Sirius begged as Snape turned to leave.

"Harry?" Snape asked. "Don't worry about him, he's fine now."

"Don't hurt him," Sirius repeated. "Have pity on him for Lily's sake."

"Are you deaf?" Snape asked. "I told you he's fine. We get along . . . well."

"I swear, if you hurt one hair on his head . . ."

"You'll what, you miserable old broken marauder?" Snape sneered. "You can do nothing from inside here."

Snape then swept out of the room, having no idea how much he would regret his parting remark.


	6. Chapter 6 - Pixies

Though summer had been fun and Harry had a great time with Lupin and his father, he was also very eager for school to start. He loved the bustle and hum of being on campus, and having an occasional visit from a friend was nothing like seeing them every day. By the time he was riding on the train to Hogwarts with the Weasley twins he was nearly manic with excitement.

And Harry knew better, he really did. The Weasley twins, even though they were just starting their second year, had already developed quite a reputation for pranking. The year before they had managed to put a soaping charm in the bathroom faucets, making the sinks overflow with foam, and they had once charmed the morning oatmeal purple. There were rumors that they were behind all of the Hufflepuffs' robes turning a dazzling pink during the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch game, but Fred and George never owned up to that one. Hermione had said that their magic would not have been advanced enough to do the prank, but Harry was never quite sure. So, when the twins asked Harry if he would like to participate in a prank, he found it impossible to resist.

Had he known what it would entail, resistance would have been easier. He had never seen Cornish Pixies, nor did he know what would happen if one set a cage full of them loose on a train, but it sounded daring and fun to him. He wasn't actually doing the letting go part, but his job was to look out to make sure that there were no professors coming at the moment that they were let go. Complicating this prank was the fact that Fred and George had insisted on the Slytherin car of the train.

"Can't we do the Hufflepuffs?" Harry had argued.

"There's no challenge in the 'Puffs," George had insisted.

"Getting one over on ol' Snape is the goal," Fred insisted.

"He's my father now," Harry objected.

"Chicken?" Fred taunted. "Maybe you will be placed in Hufflepuff."

"I'm not chicken!" Harry insisted. He felt a small tickle of nervousness of pranking the Slytherins, but he easily pushed it aside. It would likely be the twins that got into trouble, not him.

"C'mon, Harry," George begged. "We're too suspicious. We need someone like you. You wait until Snape leaves to check on the other car, and then you distract the prefects."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"What you? Sweet, wide-eyes boy who lived?" George laughed. "You'll think of something."

Harry did think of something, but it wasn't necessarily a good something. He entered the Slytherin car, and noticed the narrowed eyes of his father on him. He pretended to be casual, and walked over to his dad like there was nothing wrong.

"Lose the Weasleys?" he drawled with a glare.

"I just wanted to see what the Slytherin car looked like," Harry answered easily, trying not reveal his anxiety.

"Well, I have to check the other car, so stay out of trouble," Snape answered, his eyebrow arching in suspicion.

"Okay, I'll probably wander back," Harry told him casually.

When Snape left the car, Harry nodded to Fred and George, and then walked over to the Slytherin prefects, who were confiscating contraband from some unsuspecting third years.

"Why are Nifflers forbidden pets?" Harry asked, watching them levitate them into a box.

"Because they're a bloody nuisance," one of the prefects answered. "Say, aren't you Harry Potter? Snape's kid?"

"I am," Harry answered proudly.

"We don't know where you're going to get sorted into," the other prefect answered. "But we consider you one of us. You let us know if there's anything you need."

"I will do that," Harry answered, suddenly feeling bad for the amount of ruckus he was helping to unleash on these unsuspecting prefects. They actually seemed nice.

Then, suddenly, a cacophony of noise erupted as the Cornish PIxies were let loose in the car. The bright blue little creatures whizzed through the room, grabbing whatever they could and letting of a crazy cackling sound. Harry saw one swinging from the lights, and several seemed to steal papers from students and scatter them about. Three pixies were working together to pick up a second year boy right out of his seat! Harry laughed at the mayhem, and began backing out of the room as the prefects pulled out their wands and began attempting to stun the quick-moving creatures.

Harry had almost made it out of the car, but then he heard his father bark, "Harry Potter!" from across the room. He froze, and looked up to see Snape on the other end of the car. He had his hand on each of the twin's collars, and Fred still had the incriminating cage in his hands that had once held the pixies. Harry gulped at the glare that Snape had given him, and he felt like he was shrinking inside his clothes.

"Immobulus!" Snape barked, freezing all of the pixies. He then swept them back into the cage with his wand, locking it securely. Then, with a strong glare, he barked at Harry, "Come here."

Nobody doubted whom Snape meant, and Harry found himself walking slowly over to the irate Potions Master. "Follow me," he barked at Harry, and then turned with the Weasley twins still in his grip.

"It wasn't Harry, Professor," Fred volunteered. "It was just George and me. Harry just happened to be there."

"He's right," George chimed in. "You should let Harry go."

"So I'm to believe that Harry innocently went into the Slytherin car just ahead of you and innocently struck up a conversation with two prefects to distract them? How . . . convenient."

Snape silently cocked an eye at Harry, and Harry looked down. "Thanks, guys," he told the twins. "But I don't want to lie to Professor Snape. I helped the twins."

Snape nodded, looking maybe slightly less angry, and he escorted him to the Hufflepuff car. Opening the door to one of the private compartments, he glared at the inhabitants until they scrambled to leave.

"You three will stay in this compartment until we are at Hogwarts," he ordered sharply. "You will not leave for any reason. I will then escort the Weasley twins to their dormitories and Mr. Potter to his residence, where you will stay the rest of the evening. The elves will bring you up your suppers. Mr. Weasleys, your head of house will decide the rest of your punishment, I will take care of Mr. Potter."

"But sir!" George protested. "We'll miss the feast!"

"That is the idea," Snape told them.

"Cornish Pixies are harmless," Fred implored. "We were just trying to liven things up."

"Explain that to your head of house," Snape snapped. "But you will not be at the feast tonight." With a swirl of black cape, he was gone.

"What about visiting the loo?" George yelled at him, cheekily.

With a whoosh, an antique chamber pot appeared in the room.

"Man, I love the cape," George admired, poking at the chamber pot. "I vote that we hold it until Hogwarts."

"Sad about the feast," Fred commented, kicking back and putting his feet up. "I hope the elves bring us treacle tarts."

"They will, they know it's our favorites," George replied.

"Aren't you worried at all?" Harry asked, incredulous. "We're going to get punished!"

"Of course we are," Fred answered causally. "Look, mate, we tried to get you off. But ol' Bat britches didn't believe us, so it's good you 'fessed up when you did. It should make him take it easier on you."

"Harry, you can't let the fear of punishment get in the way of good pranking," George told him. "Otherwise we'd never do anything."

"But doesn't your mother . . . you know . . . "

"Wallop us?" Fred asked. "'Course she does, well, if she catches us. Wooden spoon, too, ouch. Ol' iron britches McGonagall will likely just give us lines or detentions. No big deal."

"Blimey, Harry, ol' Snape doesn't like, really hurt you, does he?" George asked.

"No, not like that," Harry assured them. "Just, you know, I'm probably going over his knee."

"Does he use a belt or a cane?" George asked, seriously.

"No," Harry admitted. "Usually it's his hand. He's used, well, a ruler a few times as well."

"You're fine, then," Fred relaxed again. "I mean, what's a few smacks in the face of such an epic prank? We actually set Cornish PIxies loose in the Slytherin car! Nobody else can say that."

Harry tried to laugh along with the twins, to be casual and uncaring, but in reality Harry was afraid of the spanking that was sure to come. It had been months since he had been over Snape's knee, and he had enjoyed the reprieve. He squirmed uncomfortably thinking about his conversation with his father that night. But then he thought about what Fred had said about it being worth a few smacks. Really, he knew that Snape wouldn't hurt him and would likely only give him a few smacks. Was that worth the prank? Instead of an out-of-control, abusive authority figure it was just Snape - who had punished him kindly even when he had earned a harsh correction. He began to feel safer - this was just Snape, nothing to worry about. It would sting a bit, sure, but that was all it was likely to do.

"Either of you fellows have a deck of cards?" Fred asked.

"Exploding snap?" George asked, smiling. "We have some time to pass."

By the time the train arrived at Hogwarts, Harry had almost forgotten the trouble he had gotten into. Almost, that is, until Snape appeared outside their cabin.

"Gentlemen," he intoned darkly. "Follow me."

Harry involuntarily gulped a little at his voice, but also realized that Snape had actually calmed down as well since the incident. Maybe he would actually let Harry off with some lines or a detention.

Snape swept up to the castle, the three boys nearly jogging to keep up with him. He then led the two twins to their common room, and said, "You are not allowed out again tonight. I will speak with McGonagall so she knows the behavior she must deal with."

"Yes, sir," they both answered, attempting to look contrite but failing.

"Good luck, Harry," one of them called as the portrait closed.

Harry silently followed Snape down the corridors and into the basement - into their own quarters. Harry's heart leapt at seeing their Hogwart's quarters and thinking of them spending the next school year here, but his anxiety quickly squashed down the excitement. He glanced nervously at his father, waiting for him to speak.

"Would you like your spanking now or at bedtime?" Snape asked directly, as if he were asking Harry what flavour of ice cream he fancied.

"But sir . . ." Harry started to protest.

"We both know you've earned it," Snape told him firmly. "I honestly don't see how you could have expected a different outcome from your antics. So my only question is would you like me to do it now or when I get back from the feast?"

Harry wished he could say later, because he sure didn't want it now. But he also knew that sitting in his quarters waiting for Snape to come back to give him his punishment would be excruciating. Better to get it over with.

"It's better to get it over with," Harry sighed. "But really, it was just a harmless prank. You don't have to spank me."

"It was not harmless to set a bunch of pixies loose on a train!" Snape insisted. "Pixies can actually cause a lot of property damage, as well as injure younger children. And while I know it was not your idea, you still participated willingly. I also do appreciate you telling me the truth when the Weasleys tried to cover for you."

"Will Fred and George get spanked?"

"That is up to their head of house or their parents, if they get a note home," Snape told him. "Although McGonagall doesn't often use corporal punishment on her charges. But she can make them regret their prank all the same, detentions with her are no laughing matter."

Harry nodded, looking down. Snape saw that he was done arguing, and sat himself on the sofa. "Come here, Harry," he told him calmly but sternly.

Harry obeyed, reminding himself that Snape wouldn't really hurt him, and put himself over Snape's lap without even being told to do it. He felt the man's firm legs beneath him, and he waited for the smacks.

Snape had known that Harry had grown in his trust of Snape, but the way he approached this punishment really confirmed it. He understandably tried to talk his way out of his punishment, but he wasn't as scared as he was before. He knew the punishment was going to be reasonable, and he accepted it with good grace. And even though he'd been dismayed to be caught, he also wasn't so fearful he was going to pass out like he had been before. Snape smiled. He supposed Harry trusting him enough to punish him was a good sign.

"Do you have any pleas for mercy?" Snape asked formally.

"I probably deserve whatever you think I do," Harry answered. "But maybe you could keep in mind that it wasn't, you know, actually dangerous. Just a little naughty."

"Alright, 'just a little naughty,' you're getting ten smacks then."

Snape applied his hand to the boy's upturned backside sharply, causing Harry to jump a bit. He grabbed two handfuls of Snape's robe, and grimaced as Snape's hand continued to fall for the full ten smacks of his sentence. Towards the end tears prickled his eyes and his feet kicked a bit involuntarily, but Harry took his punishment stoically.

"No more pranks like that," Snape told him, giving him the final two smacks on his upper thighs, producing a small yelp from the recipient.

"I'll do better," Harry promised, his voice thick.

"See that you do," Snape told him. He set the boy upright, and then pulled him into a hug.

Harry, relishing the comfort, closed his eyes and enjoyed his father's arms around him. It was hard to understand sometimes why his father wouldn't spank him for what happened at the store where he caused bother and expense and he would spank Harry for playing a prank like this, but he was glad that his father tended to err on the side of not spanking him.

"I love you, dad," he told him, his voice half muffled by his father's robes.

"I love you too, Harry," his father told him softly.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Chocolate Cure

Despite the fact that Harry had to miss the opening feast, he did enjoy the opening of school. He arrived in his classroom earlier than any of the other students in eager anticipation of seeing his friends.

"Hi, Harry," he heard Lupin greet him. "I see you're excited for school to start."

"Of course!" Harry grinned at him.

"Your father wasn't too hard on you last night, then?" he asked kindly.

"Not too bad," Harry admitted, chagrined. "It was a good prank, though."

"I'm sure it was," Lupin smiled at him. "You will just have to figure out if the consequences are worth the prank. Was it worth it?"

"Probably," Harry grinned. "It was pretty great to see all those pixies in the Slytherin car."

"Now remember, I'm your teacher now," Lupin reminded him. "Not your Uncle like in the summer. I have to uphold rules instead of laughing at your pranks. As much as I would like to."

"I know," Harry agreed. "It was actually Fred and George's idea, I was just the lookout."

"Just know that any pranks you play will have consequences," Lupin told him. "Make sure you weigh those beforehand."

"I will," Harry promised.

"Do you remember we're doing the special breakfast today, right?" Lupin asked him.

"Of course!" Harry answered. "I think that's a brilliant idea!"

"Well, I doubt you would have gotten much done this first morning anyway," Lupin smirked. "The headmaster will be coming by to say hello as well."

Then, as students started arriving, the classroom became a party. The house elves had made eggs, kippers, bacon and waffles, as well as an assortment of pastries. The children eagerly drank their chocolate and pumpkin juice, and ate the food while catching up with their friends.

The room fell silent, however, when the Headmaster entered the room. He smiled his benign, gentle smile as he addressed the students. "Welcome back, young witches and wizards. We are excited to have you back. We have decided not to add to your class this year because you fifteen students seem to be enough for Lupin to handle. Now, last year Professor Lupin's teaching assistant ended up wanting to kill one of your classmates. We of course will work hard this year to make sure his assistant is, well, less homicidal.

"Now then, this brings me to the reason that I'm here talking to you. There has been a break out of a very dangerous prisoner from Azkaban. We have reason to believe that he might try and infiltrate Hogwarts at some point, and for that reason there are extra security measures being taken. Your job is to make sure that you don't break the rules on where you go. You are not ever to be wandering around the grounds alone, and obviously you are not ever allowed off the grounds. The ministry has seen fit to surround Hogwarts with creatures called Dementors, these are the guards for Azkaban prison. They will never come on campus, but you shall see them surrounding the castle. Do you have any questions?"

Ron raised his hand and asked, "Who broke out, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore hesitated, glanced at Lupin, and decided to be honest. "His name is Sirius Black."

The class whispered in excitement at that name, everyone had heard of that notorious mass-murderer. Harry looked around confused, what did everyone know that he did not? He also began to feel uncomfortable as his classmates were looking at him and whispering, and he had no idea what this was about.

Harry raised his hand and asked, "Headmaster, what does this have to do with me?"

The aged wizard turned his gaze upon Harry with compassion, and said simply, "He was a friend of your family, Harry. In fact, he was the secret-keeper for your parents, which means that they were unfindable as long as he didn't tell anyone where they were. Well, they were found. And when another friend of your father's, Peter Pettigrew, went to confront him, Sirius killed him and 12 muggle bystanders."

"Why do you think he will come to Hogwarts?" Harry heard Hermione ask, though he had a sick feeling in his stomach that he knew the answer.

"It's only one of the options," the Headmaster hedged. "But one we are going to be very careful about. Now then, I believe you youngsters have a party to get back to, so I will leave you be. Any other questions can be asked of your Professor or your families. Thank you."

Harry suddenly felt his stomach drop. He had heard someone talk about Sirius Black - where was it? He couldn't remember. He would have to talk to Hermione and Ron about this, there seemed to be a lot more to the story than what Dumbledore had told him.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Lupin smiled. "And I would like to introduce my teaching assistant this year, Alice Abbott. She's Hannah's older cousin, and in her final year at Hogwarts. I'm sure she will be an improvement on Amanda."

The class laughed nervously, and Alice smiled at them. "I have made a wizarding vow not to harm any student in this class, and I have been interviewed under veritaserum by the headmaster. I am not trying to kill anybody."

"We are very happy to hear that," Lupin smiled his answer. "And, I'm sure, relieved as well. One homicidal teaching assistant is quite enough. Now then, children, finish your breakfast and we shall get started on our work. There's a lot of work to be done this year, and I think we need to start things off with your broom lessons."

Harry, comfortably full of a special breakfast and sitting atop his broom, beamed at his friends. It was so good to be back! Even if he had to worry about some madman wanting to kill him, well, he'd had that before. And nobody had gotten him yet. Mostly due to other people, though, he admitted. He survived as a baby because of his mother, and he survived the last two attempts on his life because of the Professor.

Harry saw Lupin open the balls for a quidditch game, and leaned forward in eager anticipation. Quidditch had been one of the things he had missed the most about school, and he could hardly believe that this was how Lupin was going to start the school year.

Suddenly, Harry realized that his breath was a fog and the air had turned icy cold. His breath choked in him, and he felt as if all the happiness had drained out of the world. He turned to see a figure hovering in the air behind him. The figure was large and dark, cloaked, and his cloak floated in an other-worldly fashion, as if he were a ghost. Harry couldn't breath, his chest refused to let air into it, and then he began to hear a woman scream in a flash of green light. Grabbing at the necklace to signal his father, his eyesight narrowed into a tunnel and then went black. Harry began to fall.

Snape was in his classroom, sorting cauldrons in preparation for his class. He felt the alarm go off, and suddenly he was moving towards Harry as fast as he could. When he got outside towards the Quidditch pitch, he knew then that Harry had fallen, and he knew that he was too late. Harry was probably dead, and his heart wrenched in pain as his body took broomless flight towards the crowd gathered around Harry. In his haste, he almost missed the dementor floating above the pitch, but his spy instincts could not be fully thwarted. He landed beside Harry, his wand drawn and a patronus charm out before he was fully landed. The silvery doe ran out from his wand, stampeding towards the dementor and banishing it from the pitch.

"Professor Snape!" he heard Lupin call. "Over here!"

Lupin was next to Harry on the ground, and Snape could see that he was unconscious. "Harry!" he yelled, rushing to him.

"We need to get him to Madame Pomfrey," Lupin told him. "The dementor made him faint. I cast a featherlight charm on him so he wasn't injured on the way down."

Snape nodded, appreciating the man's brevity, and looked at Harry again. He didn't seem injured, just unconscious. Picking him up as if he were no larger than a small child, Snape raced to the infirmary.

Harry woke up in the infirmary, with a bustle of things going on around him. He blinked in confusion, not understanding where he was.

"Dad?" he croaked.

"Here, Harry," he heard his father, and then felt him take his hand. "You are in the infirmary."

"What happened?" he asked.

"You met a dementor, Harry," Snape told him softly. "We will talk about it more when you are better. For now, I need you to eat some chocolate."

"Chocolate?" Harry asked, incredulous. "Don't you mean some foul-tasting potion?"

"Chocolate," Snape confirmed, holding a bite to his lips. "Here, eat this. There's a good boy."

Harry let the sweet richness melt on his tongue as he tried to make sense of what people were saying. His head felt fuzzy, and his arms and legs tingled. He accepted another bite of chocolate that Snape put in his mouth, chewing softly. If only all of his ailments could be fixed with chocolate. In the background, he heard what sounded like Dumbledore ranting about the dementors being on Hogwart's grounds, and other voices he couldn't identify.

"Don't worry about that," he heard his father tell him. "Dumbledore is just trying to sort out why the dementor came so close to you, Harry. They aren't supposed to come on the grounds at all."

"What is a dementor?" Harry asked.

"They are guards for Azkaban," Snape explained. "They are dark, foul creatures. They make a person feel sad and depressed, like there is no happiness in the world."

"Why did they knock me out?"

"I don't know," Snape answered him, sounding unsure. "That's not the typical reaction. Here, you need more chocolate."

Harry accepted the bite, and then asked, "What about the woman that was screaming?" Harry asked. "Was she alright?"

"What woman?" Snape asked.

"There was a woman screaming and a flash of green light, just before I fell," Harry explained. "I don't know where it came from, but is she okay?"

"There was no woman," Snape explained. "Being around a Dementor can sometimes make a person relive bad memories."

"So I was remembering someone screaming?"

"Likely," Snape told him. "Now tell me, Harry, how are you feeling?"

"Dizzy," Harry answered. "And a little embarrassed. Am I the only one that fainted?"

"Well, yes," Snape answered. "But don't worry, everyone is affected differently."

"And how is our patient?" Harry heard the voice of Madame Pomfrey ask.

"I'm fine," Harry insisted, ignoring the dizziness, trying to sit up.

"Don't get up yet," she told him, holding his shoulder. Then, to Snape, she asked, "Has he eaten much of the chocolate?"

"A few pieces," Snape answered.

"Hmm," Madame Pomfrey snorted, and began to examine Harry. "Does anything hurt?" she asked.

"No," he answered. "I'm just a little dizzy."

"Dementors on the school grounds," she grumbled. "What has this world come to? I mean really!"

Harry meekly put up with the enraged medi-witch examining him, and pronouncing him healthy. "Just let him finish that chocolate bar and he can be dismissed," Madame Pomfrey ordered. "But he should go back to his room, not to class. He's had enough for today."

"I really think I could go back to class . . ." Harry tried to argue.

"No arguments, young man," she told him firmly. "Anybody that is knocked unconscious gets a day of rest. Severus, are you able to supervise him or should he stay here?"

"I do have two classes to teach, Poppy," he replied seriously. "And I don't want him to be alone. I'll get him settled in our quarters and call Maisie to come and watch him while I'm out."

"He needs to get over feeling dizzy completely, first," Poppy told him. "Make sure he eats the rest of that chocolate bar."

Harry did in fact feel a lot better after finishing the chocolate bar, and was able to follow his father down to their quarters. Snape insisted that he be tucked in bed, though Harry felt perfectly fine to be up and about.

"If you faint while I'm gone, you could hurt yourself," Snape insisted. "If you're feeling better when I'm done with my classes, you can get up then."

"But I'll be bored!" Harry protested.

"Then you can start on your schoolwork," Snape replied. Looking at that pale face and thinking of how scared he had been earlier, Snape relented. "I believe I have that book that you wanted, perhaps you can get started on that."

"Can I?" Harry asked. "That would be great!"

Just then, Maisie popped in right beside Harry.

"Good, you're here," Snape observed. "Harry is to remain in bed while I'm gone, he can only get out to use the bathroom, and even then I want you to be with him."

"Dad!" Harry protested.

Snape ignored him, continuing with Maisie. "Give him food if he wants it, but nothing too heavy or sweet. Just simple things, like bread and soup. And I want him to drink at least two cups of chocolate, nice and warm. Can you do that?"

"Of course," Maisie agreed.

"And something chocolate for pudding for lunch and supper," Snape told her. "I will be taking both meals here with Harry."

"I wills do it," she answered.

"Okay, Harry, be good while I'm gone."

"Like I have a choice?" Harry asked, a little cheeky. "What can I get up to in bed?"

"I put nothing past you," Snape smirked at him. "And Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Can we try not to put me through this kind of thing regularly. I'm not as young as I once was, and I swear my heart stopped beating for a few seconds."

"I love you too, Dad," Harry replied, understanding what Snape was trying to say.

With a nod, Snape left.


	8. Chapter 8 - House Elves

Harry stayed in bed with Snape gone, even though he didn't like it. He did have the novel that Snape had ordered for him, and that did keep him entertained for the most part. Maisie fussed over him, making sure his pillow was fluffy and that he was warm enough, and she encouraged him to drink the steamy cups of chocolate she brought to him. The chocolate did make him feel better, the warmth warmed his stomach and the chocolate made him feel more . . . solid. Stable.

Maisie had just handed him a second cup of steaming chocolate when there was a pop! of an apparition in the room.

"Dobby!" Maisie cried out. "Whats happened?"

Harry looked at a small and battered house elf that had appeared in his room. He wore a dirty and ragged tea towel, unlike the clean and fresh ones that Maisie always wore, and his face and body was battered and bloody.

"Is bad," the little house elf replied, collapsing to the floor. "I . . . I's bad, so bad. Master . . ."

"Shh," Maisie shushed him. "Befores yous says something that needs to punish."

Harry watched in horror as he saw the extent to which the elf was damaged. His ear was torn, the torn part barely hanging on. His face was purpled and bloody, and Harry saw bruises peeking out from under his tea towel.

"Masters Harry," Maisie bowed to him. "This is my nephew Dobby. He has been hurt, and I wants to tends him, buts I cannot leaves you."

"You can tend him in my room," Harry told her. "What happened to him?"

"He no have good master, not like Maisie," she shook her head.

"His master did this?" Harry asked, incredulous. "The poor thing!"

"When he is beatens he comes to me," Maisie explained.

"Whatever you need to do, you can do it," Harry told her. "You know where Dad keeps the medical supplies. Here, put him up on the bed with me while you gather what you need, then I can help you."

Maisie nodded, conjuring a clean towel to lay on Harry's bed and then and easily levitated him up. Harry wanted to pat the elf to comfort him, but didn't know where to pat that wasn't bloodied and bruised. Finally, he decided that the elf's hand was relatively undamaged, so he held his hand softly as Maisie gathered the first aid supplies.

"Here we go, Dobby," she said, bringing in a pan of steaming water and several vials of medicine.

"Do human potions work on house-elves?" Harry asked, fascinated.

"Somes do," Maisie replied. "The simple ones, like pain ones. Dobby, drink this."

Dobby obediently drank the potion, and his eyes went half-lidded in relief.

"Can yous hold him whiles I wash?" Maisie asked Harry.

"Of course," Harry told her. "Just tell me what to do."

Maisie directed as she slipped off Dobby's tea towel, and carefully cleansed all of the cuts and bruises. She applied salve to the open wounds, and looked at his ear in dismay. "Masters Snape will haves to do that," she said in despair. "I can'ts fix that."

"Does Dad know about Dobby?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, he heals hims sometimes," Maisie told him. "Wes just have tos wait until hes back."

"Can't we take him away from his master?" Harry asked. "Surely there's rules that don't allow for this . . ."

"Theres no protections fors elves," Maisie replied sadly. "The onlys hopes we haves is the mercy of ours masters,"

"Who is his master?" Harry asked.

"No speaks bad about master!" Dobby cried out, half-drugged.

Maisie looked at him, patting his hand, nodding, and said, "I would nevers speak ills about the greats house of Malfoy," Maisie replied with a pointed look at Harry. "Lucius Malfoy is a greats man."

Harry understood, if he spoke ill of the Malfoys that would be bad for Dobby. He bit his lip against saying anything.

"That's alls I can dos," Maisie said, wiping her hands. "The rests needs Master to fix."

"I wish I could do something," Harry said, gazing at the poor wretch.

"Yous drinks your chocolate," she chided softly. "But maybe Dobbys cans rest with yous?"

"Yes, he can stay here," Harry agreed happily, sipping his chocolate that was rapidly cooling.

"Goods, then Is can keeps an eye on boths." she said. "Now lays back, Master Harry, and rests."

Harry had managed to nod off a bit, so he was surprised to look up and see his father in his room. He watched with incredulity as his father, dressed formally in his bat-like robes, bending over and handling the small house elf with gentle care. He watched as he waved his wand over Dobby's ear, and chanting softly, the ear reattached itself, though with a thick pink scar. His wand went over the other wounds, and the skin smoothed out and sealed itself. WIth a gulp, Harry realized that that was what Snape had done to him when he had been beaten by Treadle.

"That's as good as I can do, Maisie," Snape told her softly. "How are you feeling, Dobby?"

"Betters, sirs, thanks you."

"I have healed what I can, but you will need to rest," Snape told him. "It takes a lot of energy to heal like you did. Can you go somewhere where you don't have to answer a call for a time?"

"There's nowheres," Dobby told him, his voice hitching. "But Masters is gones now, I be okay."

"Alright," Snape told him.

Snape glanced at Harry, and then decided he could ask even with the boy there. He hesitated, and then asked the two elves, "I have a question that you two might be able to help me with."

"Anything," Maisie answered. "If we can answer, we will."

"I wanted to know if you two knew anything about Regulus Black."

The two house elves looked at each other, and then back at Snape. "Why do you want to knows abouts the Great One?" Maisie asked.

"It's a project I'm working on," Severus answered. "Can you tell me?"

"Is tells him," Dobby volunteered. "Is owes him. Master, The Great One himselfs forbids us telling his family, buts we mays tell others if compelled."

"I promise not to tell anybody else," Snape told the little elf. "I understand that it must be kept secret."

Dobby nodded. "Master Regulus is a legends with houses elves, sir," he told Snape seriously. "Hes a wizard thats risks his own life to rescues his elf's lifes, sir."

"How did he do that?" Snape asked gently.

"Master Regulus serveds the Dark Lords," Dobby told him. "Very wicked, verys hateful. He's wants to tests protections he makes. Protections for his precious."

"What was precious?" Snape asked.

Dobby shook his head. "Nobody knows, buts as precious as owns life, sir. He knews that elfs had to obeys, sir. So he told Regulus tos orders Kreachers to tests the protections, and he woulds die."

"Poor Kreacher," Harry commented.

Dobby looked at Harry with affection. "Yous so kinds, Masters Potter."

"What did Regulus do?"

"Hes not follows wicked Dark Lords any more," Dobby told them quietly. Then, looking at Snape and lowering his voice, he said, "And he stoles the precious. Hes gives it to Kreachers and says to destroys it. But Master Regulus dies anyways, saving Kreacher."

"How do you know this story?" Snape asks quietly.

"Kreacher is mys father, Master," Maisie tells him quietly. "He loveds his Master so much, havings him dies to protects poor Kreacher nearlys droves him mad."

"Regulus did the honorable thing to protect Kreacher," Snape told her. "His house elf was under his protection, so Kreacher should not feel guilty about Regulus doing his duty. But do either of you have any idea what it was that was the precious item?"

"No, Master," Maisie answered.

"Alright. Thank you for telling me this information. Walburga Black is dead, so Sirius is the heir to the estate and to Kreacher, is that correct?"

"Is thinks so," Maisie told him.

Snape sighed in frustration, this would have been good information to have last week, when they still knew where Sirius was. But now, well, he could be anywhere. Dumbledore could try, but it was unlikely Kreacher would tell them anything without Sirius. But anything precious to the Dark Lord would be worth investigating. Snape sighed, a chat with Dumbledore was long overdue. The Headmaster was likely to be displeased how much he had found out and not told him.

He looked at his son, and softened. It warmed him to see how kind his son really was, and watching him help care for the small elf on his bed warmed him in a way he hadn't anticipated. He had secretly patched Dobby up a few times since Maisie had come to work for him, the Malfoys were cruel to their little elf.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" he asked.

"Much better," Harry answered. "I don't even feel dizzy anymore."

"Did you finish both cups of chocolate?"

"I did," Harry answered happily.

"Good boy," Snape answered. "Are you ready for some lunch?"

"Yes, but can we have it in here with Dobby?" Harry asked.

"I think that would be fine," Snape told him. "I'm sure Dobby could use some food as well. Maisie, would you mind making us some sandwiches?"

"And chocolates cake for puddings," she smiled, popping out.

"Dad, Dobby's owner did this to him," Harry told him. "We have to stop it."

"We can't," Snape answered sadly. "I don't have any way to do it."

"But it's not fair!"

"You're right, it's not," Snape told him. "But it's the law. House elves do not have any protections except what their masters grant them. House elves are actually quite powerful in their own right, but they are subject to their master's whim."

"So we could hurt Maisie like that?"

"We never would," Snape assured him.

Harry shook his head, looking sadly at the small house elf that was now sleeping on his bed. "I thought that the wizarding world was perfect; it was so much better than where I was before. But you were able to rescue me, and nobody can rescue Dobby. How could people think this is alright?"

"I don't know," Snape sighed. "I promise you that I will try. I don't agree with this either."

"How does a house elf get free?" Harry asked. "I saw you bond with Maisie, is there any way to break it? Like a divorce?"

"A house elf is bound to the owner and the person's family for his whole life unless the owner releases him," Snape explained. "The owner releases him by presenting the house elf with clothes. That's why they wear dishcloths, they can't be given real clothes."

"I see," Harry answered. "Do the clothes have to be given by the owner?"

"Yes," Snape answered. He saw the calculating look on his son's face, and wondered if he should try to shut it down. Harry could get himself seriously hurt trying to meddle in Malfoy affairs, but it was also a good opportunity to see if the child could right an injustice. It could be a chance to develop his cunning and planning. Hmm, he would watch and see it develop.


	9. Chapter 9 - Conversations

The next day Snape consented to letting Harry go back to class upon many assurances that he was feeling just fine. Dobby had had a few hours of rest before he'd had to pop home, and the rest of the evening had been subdued. Snape could almost see the wheels turning in Harry's head, and laughed to himself. It was much better that the lad was thinking about how to free an abused house elf than trying to research about SIrius Black and worrying about that. What Snape didn't know is that Harry was thinking about both things.

At lunch the next day, Harry carefully took Ron and Hermione to the side. Usually Draco was part of their group, so he pulled them away while he was talking to Lupin about an assignment.

"We have two projects that need research," he told them hurriedly. "And one of them can't involve Draco."

"Why?" Ron asked. "Has he turned evil or something?"

"No," Harry smirked. "I want to free one of his house elves, Dobby. He came to our place yesterday covered in bruises from being hit by Draco's dad."

"That's awful!" Hermione gasped.

"Snape says the only way to free a house elf is for the owner to present the elf with clothes. So, we're going to have to figure out how to do that."

"Tall order, mate," Ron shook his head. "And messing with Lucius isn't like setting pixies free in the Slytherins' car. We could get into real trouble."

Harry blushed a little at the comment, and smiled at Ron. "Our parents will protect us from too much trouble," Harry reasoned. "And what's the worst that can happen?"

"A sore bum," Ron answered.

"Well, Dobby had a lot more than that," Harry reasoned. "It's worth a sore bum if it frees him from that horror show."

"I'm in," Hermione agreed. "I'll start researching house elf rules and regulations and see what the rules are for certain."

"Good," Harry told her. "I think my dad would help us if there's anything we need," he told them carefully. "But if there's anything remotely risky to any of us, we need to do it without him finding out."

Ron nodded. "Bill and Charlie and the twins can help too, if it needs a large operation."

"Alright, let's work on developing a plan," Harry agreed. "For the other project, however, I think we need Draco."

"Draco might actually help us with the house elf,"" Hermione said. "He might surprise you."

"Maybe," Harry told her. "But I don't want to do anything that makes him choose between his father and his friends, that doesn't seem fair. It's best we do it without him."

"What's the second thing?" Ron asked. "Do you want to take over the ministry, or maybe become Headmaster?"

"No," Harry told him seriously. "It's about Sirius Black, the man who betrayed my parents. We need to find out everything about him, and what he has to do with me. The ministry is so worried about him coming after me that they're willing to set dementors on the school, so we need to be careful."

That evening, Snape found his way into Albus' office. He was not looking forward to this conversation, both in admitting what he had done and in the fact that he had kept it from Dumbledore. He also knew that this information was going to break his heart, and he was sad to be the one to do it.

"Severus, my boy," Albus greeted him. "What an unexpected surprise."

"This is not a social call," Snape answered.

"What is it that you need?"

"Confession," Snape answered with a sardonic smile.

"And what have you been doing that you need to confess?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" he asked. "You may find it needful to fetch that strap of yours."

"I doubt that very much, Severus," Albus answered, his eyes twinkling. "I haven't thrashed you for years."

Severus smiled, looking down. Albus had actually disciplined him a few times, but the threat of the strap had always just been theoretical; at least up until now. And now Severus looked at the man that he looked to as a father, and sat down.

"I have found out that Sirius Black is innocent," he said bluntly, letting the information land as it would.

"What?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes no longer twinkling. "How do you know?"

"I paid a visit to him," Snape admitted. "In Azkaban."

"Whyever would you do that?" he asked.

"Things had just been coming up," Snape admitted. "It started with a comment that Molly made, and then I visited Treadle before his execution. He admitted that Walburga Black died disappointed with both of her sons. He said that she had visited Sirius in prison, and left saying that he had never changed."

"So you thought that he must have been innocent."

"Well, wouldn't she have cheered for him to embrace the Dark Lord and betray the Potters?" Snape asked reasonably. "Not to mention killing the muggles."

"That's true," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard. "But why didn't you come to me?"

"I wanted to know first," Snape admitted. "So I went to visit Black."

"But that's so dangerous!" Dumbledore protested. "How did you do it?"

"I impersonated Lupin while giving him an iron-clad alibi," Snape explained. "And in the process of our conversation, I came to realize that not only was he innocent, but that he had allowed himself to be put away."

"But why would he do that?"

"I think he felt guilty," Snape told him. "He had convinced the Potters to change their secret-keeper to Peter Pettigrew, and so he holds himself responsible for their deaths. So he went willingly to Azkaban and didn't mount a defense."

"But how could he do that?"

"Guilt drives us to strange places," Snape said softly, looking away. "I could see it. If you hadn't vouched for me when you did . . ."

"You didn't deserve Azkaban," Dumbledore insisted.

"Neither did Sirius," Snape told him levely. "Why didn't you defend him as well?"

"I believed him," Dumbledore told him, crestfallen. Snape had never seen the man look so honestly distraught. "I was there when he confessed. I was so hurt that he would do that, to betray his best friends . . ."

"And I'm afraid that means that the real betrayer of the Potters is still at large."

"Who could it be?" Dumbledore asked.

"My money is on Peter Pettigrew," Snape told him. "Sirius said that when he went to confront Peter, he blew everyone up. He framed Sirius."

"Wait," Dumbledore told him, "Wait. Was your visit to him what inspired him to break out of Azkaban?"

"It must have been," Snape answered with chagrin. "That's why I told you you might want the strap. I, well, I wasn't actually very polite to the man."

"That's not surprising," Dumbledore surmised.

"I sort of baited him," Snape admitted, embarrassed. "I told him that his absolution did nothing for his Godson. I told him that I was raising Harry, and he seemed to think that I might, well, get revenge on Harry."

"Did you disabuse him of this notion?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not really," Snape admitted. "I tried a little, but then I almost baited him. I told him that he could do nothing for Harry inside of Azkaban."

"Why did you bait him?" Dumbledore asked, incredulously.

"It was wrong," Snape admitted. "Seeing him, well, it just brought everything back. I felt sorry for him a little - he is really a skinny, crazy mess - but then I thought of him as a marauder, and, well, I wanted revenge."

"That is not well done of you, Severus," Dumbledore told him, shaking his head sadly.

"I know," he admitted, looking down. "Ever since he escaped I have felt guilty. He had to have escaped because of me. And what happens if he does come after Harry?"

"You made a mistake," Dumbledore told him. "But you're an adult now. You don't pay for it with a detention or a punishment, but instead with fixing the problem."

"The strap would be easier," Snape admitted.

"Of course it would," Dumbledore answered, smirking a little. "So how are you going to prove his innocence?"

"Me? Prove his innocence?" Snape asked, incredulous.

"I will help you," Dumbledore told him. "I have my own atonement to do. We need to prove his innocence."

"Do you remember what that man did to me in school?" Snape snapped. "Why should I save him?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Dumbledore told him.

"Well, there might be another reason," Snape conceded, and then told Dumbledore about the "precious" thing that Dumbledore had hidden, the thing that had cost Regulus his life.

"This is very concerning," Dumbledore told him. "Anything that is precious to the Dark Lord is only bad news for us."

"What could it be?" Snape asked. "A weapon of some sort?"

"I think a weapon would be the least of it," Dumbledore told him. "There are worse things."

"Worse?" Snape asked, confused. "What could be worse?"

"Let's not use conjecture too much," Dumbledore told him. "All we know is that if Voldemort is willing to spend so much energy protecting it, then we should get it. Regulus gave it to Kreacher to destroy, we need to find out if Kreacher obeyed him."

"Kreacher is not going to talk to me," Snape admitted. "I was the cause of his mistress' death. Although, my house elf is his daughter, apparently."

"Then I'll see where I can get," Dumbledore told him. "I might ask Maisie to accompany me. Otherwise, it will have to be something we address when we can get Sirius to help us."

"What makes you think he would help us?"

"He's a good man, Snape," Dumbledore told him. "He may be a little lost right now, but he is a good man. Even though we have thought the worst of him, he is the man he always was."

"That's the man that set a werewolf on me in school," Snape snapped. "He was no angel."

"Not an angel, no," Dumbledore agreed. "But I'm sure he has more than paid for any foolishness he may have done. It's time to save him."


	10. Chapter 10 - Revelations

Draco had actually added a lot to the discussion about Sirius Black. Draco had a way of being able to organize the thoughts better than Harry could, so they were soon organized and each had a part of the project. Hermione and Ron were charged with researching the official record for the events of that night, Draco said he would check with his father, discreetly of course, and find out anything there. Harry's job was to ask Lupin.

Harry waited until all the other students were gone, and he dawdled packing up his books. Lupin organized his desk, bundling up the essays for grading, and then looked up in surprise to see Harry still there. "Is there something you needed?" he asked the boy.

"Actually, yes," Harry answered. "Do you have a minute to talk? As my uncle, not my professor?"

"Certainly," Lupin answered, taking a seat. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Sirius Black," Harry admitted. "It's in all the newspapers about his escape, and I know that he was one of my father's friends. Can you tell me more about him?"

Lupin sighed, rubbing his face. "There are several things that I cannot tell you," Lupin said sadly. "But I promise that what I do tell you will be the truth. What do you want to know?"

"Did he do it?" Harry asked bluntly. "Did he betray my parents?"

"I don't know," Lupin answered honestly. "I used to believe that he had. He confessed, in a way, and said that your parents death was all his fault. There was no trial because people were certain that he was guilty. Now? I don't know. I think there's a lot of room to doubt."

"Why is there room?"

"Harry, I think a lot of this you're going to have to ask your father," Lupin replied. "He would be the one to know more of this."

"Can you tell me what he was like when you were in school?"

"He was fearless," Lupin grinned. "So fearless. He was the bravest one. He came from the Black family, Slytherins and Dark Lord supporters every single one. Except for Sirius; he was sorted into Gryffindor. Not only that, but he disavowed the Dark Lord. His family disowned him."

"Was it a ruse?"

"The ministry believes so," Lupin answered carefully. "But I think there's room to doubt. What if he was innocent but felt guilty enough to allow himself to be put into Azkaban?"

"Why is the ministry worried that he wants to get me?" Harry asked. "I'm the reason the dementors are here, aren't I?

"Well, I think part of that has to do with the rivalry between the Marauders and Snape in school," Lupin explained. "You know that we, well, we bullied Snape in school? I have apologized and asked for forgiveness from your father for that. But really, it was Sirius and James that were the worst about it."

"But what does that have to do with me?"

"You cannot imagine Azkaban," Lupin tried to explain. "It is a place of madness. People who are sent there are constantly guarded by dementors, and the dementors remove any happy memory people have, and feed of the despair that is left. Most people go crazy in the matter of weeks and months. Sirius has been there for nine years. If he found out that you had been adopted by Snape, well, there's no telling what his mind would be capable of doing."

"Why would wizards send their prisoners there?" Harry asked. "It's cruel."

"I know when you first came to the wizarding world it seemed like we had all the answers and that things were fair and just. But the wizarding world has just has many problems as the muggle world does, and we're maybe less advanced in things like human rights. Or house elf rights, as I understand you have found out."

"What would Sirius Black do if he gets me?" Harry asked. "Would he hurt me?"

"I wouldn't think so," Lupin said slowly. "But I think you need to realize that he is likely mad. I don't think he would hurt you, at least not on purpose. Of course, if he did betray your parents, then he would want to, you know . . ."

"Finish the job?" Harry finished for him.

"I know the last two years you have had people wanting to kill you," Lupin told him soberly. "And I really don't think that he does want to kill you. But you need to exercise extreme caution, Harry. He must not get ahold of you."

"I will do my best," Harry told him.

* * *

Harry had hoped to avoid directly questioning Snape, because he knew the man was highly intelligent and highly suspicious, which was a bad combination. But with Lupin less than forthcoming, he realized that he was going to have to do it.

That afternoon at tea, Harry was trying his be nonchalant. He sipped his tea.

"So I was asking Lupin today about Sirius Black," he started, deciding being open and naive would be a good strategy.

"You were?" Snape answered, casual. "Whatever for?"

"Well, it's pretty natural for me to be curious about him," Harry answered. "He was the one that betrayed my parents, right?"

"I see, I suppose it is natural," Snape conceded.

"But Lupin seems to think that there may be some doubt about his guilt. He told me to talk to you about it."

"Well, that was wise of him," Snape dissembled, giving himself time to form his words appropriately. "It has recently come to my attention that there is a chance that he was innocent of the charges."

"What are you doing about it?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore is aware," Snape admitted. "It is being handled."

"Do you think he's trying to kill me?"

Snape's eyes narrowed, and he replied, "Why do I feel as if I'm being interrogated?"

"I just had some questions, you know?"

"I see," Snape answered, putting down his tea and facing the child that was certainly developing his Slytherin side. "And I want to make it abundantly clear at this point that you are to trust the adults to handle this, young man."

"But . . ."

"No," Snape told him, grasping both of Harry's shoulders with authority. "This is not something for you to do, Harry. You need to trust me on this."

Harry squirmed. He wanted to trust Snape, but he also couldn't let this go. He was afraid that he would miss out on information, and he needed to know that information in order to keep himself safe. Surely Snape would understand that.

"I trust you," Harry told him.

"Not enough to let me handle this," Snape answered, studying him carefully. "Harry, this is not like letting pixies loose on the train. This is serious."

"Ha! You admit that prank wasn't dangerous!"

"This is no laughing matter," Snape answered him. "Promise me that you will stop investigating this."

Harry squirmed, caught between lying and not saying anything. He looked down, not wanting to answer. Finally, he said softly, "I promised not to lie to you," he answered.

With a sigh, Snape let Harry's shoulders go. "If I catch you doing anything against the rules for this investigation, there will be a penalty," he warned the boy. "I could assign you a house elf to instantly alert me for everything that you do."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me," Snape told him. "For I am serious about your safety, Harry. And I am much more stubborn than you are."

"Let me ask you this," Harry crossed his arms and looked at Snape. "When you were a child, if you found out that there was someone who was either a mass murderer or a misunderstood friend of your dead father was after you, would you just trust the adults around you?"

"That's different," Snape answered, crossing his arms as well. "And the largest reason being that I did not have a loving father that was also a master spy who wanted to protect me. The second being, if I had refused my father as you are refusing me, I would have been beaten within an inch of my life."

Harry trembled a little and looked down. "You had said you wouldn't do that," he whispered.

"Of course I'm not going to beat you," Snape replied, exasperated. "But neither am I going to allow you to risk your life playing spy when you're ten years old!"

Encouraged, Harry looked up and met Snape's eye. "I'm just as stubborn as you," he replied. "I'm your son, after all."

And Snape really had no good reply to that. So instead, he said, "It's your backside. If you must test me on this, then I am happy to follow through with consequences."

Harry nodded slightly, as if making his own decision, and reached for a biscuit. Snape silently cursed Harry's Gryffindor side, if he thought that Black was wrongfully imprisoned he would endanger himself to free him.

* * *

That night, long after Harry was tucked up in bed, Snape heard a knock on his door. To his surprise, it was Lupin.

"Come in!" Snape welcomed him. "It's good to see you, Remus. Should I call for tea?"

"I am not here on a social call," Lupin told him. "Better make it whiskey. And cast the best muffling spell that you have."

Snape poured them both a shot of firewhiskey, and handed one to his friend. He quickly erected muffling wards around them, close enough that even the portraits couldn't hear them talk. "What brings you here, then?" he asked. Part of him, a very deep part, had a momentary panic that this would be the conversation that Remus would admit that he didn't want to be friends with Snape any further. _Am I a bloody Hufflepuff first year?_ he growled at himself.

"There's some information that I have that I am going to need to share with you," Lupin told him. "But it is information that I am sworn never to share. I have wanted to tell you now for quite a while, but after talking with Harry I realized that you need to know the whole truth, or at least as much as I know."

"What is it?" Snape asked, oddly touched that this man was so nervous in telling him something.

"You have to understand that it was because of me, Severus," Remus answered, sipping the whiskey. "When they learned I was a werewolf, they hatched a plan."

"What plan?"

"They became animagi," Lupin admitted. "All three of them. James was a stag, Sirius was a large black dog, and Peter became a rat."

"That was very dangerous!" Snape exclaimed. "Does anyone know?"

"Nobody knows but the four of us," he explained. "They did it so that on full moon nights they could run with me. Dumbledore had planned for me to be in the shrieking shack during my monthly times, but with them I ran free. They kept me corralled, and protected anything I could hurt. As animals, I was no threat to them."

"Foolhardy!" Snape exclaimed. "You were all extremely lucky that nobody got hurt."

"We were," Lupin confirmed. "I shudder to think of it now. But don't you see what that means? Sirius can transform into a dog. That is probably how he escaped detection."

"And Peter was a rat," Snape confirmed grimly, taking a drink of his whisky. "Remus, what do you think the chances are that Peter is still alive?"

Lupin blinked. "I never thought of that," he admitted.

Snape sat back in his chair and rubbed his face. "Dumbledore is punishing me," he admitted to Lupin. "I'm supposed to prove Black innocent."

"But you hate him!" Lupin protested.

"If I liked him it wouldn't be a punishment," Snape smirked. "So, let's talk about how we do that. What would convince the ministry that he is innocent?"

"Pensieve memories?" Lupin pondered. "And Sirius is the only one there that night that is still alive. Unless, of course, you're right about Peter. Also, testimony given with veritaserum."

"So in order to prove Sirius innocent we need to catch at least one of them, preferably both," Severus nodded. "We need a trap, and we need bait."


	11. Chapter 11 - The Map

_AN: I just posted a one-shot related to this story, with more of the back story of Snape and Dumbledore. It's called, "The Performance Review." Please enjoy this chapter, it was very fun to write._

* * *

"Harry!" he heard the twins come up to him at lunch. "We need your help?"

"What do you need?" he asked them, wary. The last time he helped them he'd ended up over Snape's knee for it.

"Not for a prank," Fred answered, as if reading his mind. "Just kind of a - special project. Can you meet us after school? Outside the Library?"

"Alright," Harry agreed. After all, as long as he was in Hogwarts and made it in time for tea with Snape he should be alright.

When he met the twins after his classes, they ushered him into an empty classroom, watching to make sure they weren't followed. Fred looked both ways in the hallway, then closed the door behind them with a locking charm and a muffling charm.

"What is it?" Harry asked. "What are you guys doing?"

"We have something of greatest import that we want your help with cracking," George explained.

"We need your enormous noggin," Fred agreed. "And of the smart kids you seem the least likely to snitch on us."

"What is it?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"You have to solemnly swear that you will not reveal what we are about to show you," Fred told him seriously.

George nodded. "We need your wizard's oath, Harry."

"I swear with my wizard's oath," Harry replied. "Not to reveal what you are about to show me. Okay, now, what is it?"

With a significant look at his brother, Fred brought out a small bundle of folded parchments out from under his cloak. Harry looked at the blank parchment, and blinked. What was this?

"We snitched it from Filch's office at the end of last year," George explained. "We had gotten sent there for setting off dungbombs."

"He actually has a drawer marked, 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous," Fred laughed. "It's like marking what we needed to steal in neon."

"You can just feel that this is something very significant," George added. "And we think it's activated by a passphrase, and we think we have part of it worked out."

Fred unfolded the parchment, and said, "See? When I say, 'I solemnly swear I am . . ."

The paper had flashes of lights go through it, and it looked like it was coming alive. "See? That's as far as we have gotten. We've tried every name we can think of that could work. We think we have to find the bloke's name that had this before."

"Any idea on who had it?" Harry asked.

"No, we've struck out," George admitted.

"Hmm," Harry studied the paper. "Do you have any idea what it might be?"

"Well, one of the times we started saying the phrase, we think we may have seen the word 'map,'" Fred told him. "We think it might be a treasure map."

"Wow," Harry said, turning the map over. He opened it up fully, closed it up, and said, "Map, can you tell us what you are?"

The map starting having the lights and the swirls happen, and then these words appeared:

 _ **Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail would like to greet the great Harry Potter and tell him that they're sure he will not always be the shortest kid in his class, surely there's a girl that will eventually be shorter.**_

Harry laughed in response, and the twins giggled. "We forgot to tell you that it also sometimes likes to insult people," Fred added.

"It told Fred he should shower more," George added. "And that I should get pimple cream."

Harry laughed, and said, "Well, I wonder if it would respond to my name. Okay, Map, my name is Harry Potter. WIll you tell me your secrets now?"

The map hesitated, and said,

 _ **Prongs would like to know who your father is, if indeed your parents had the benefit of wedlock.**_

Harry grinned, and said, "My father was James Potter, and my mom was Lily Potter."

Another pause.

 _ **PIck me up,**_ the map said simply, but didn't insult him this time. Harry obeyed, hoping this wasn't one of those dangerous things like a portkey.

The words then appeared:

 _ **Prongs, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail would like to welcome the next generation of pranksters to Hogwarts and to the use of this remarkable item called the Marauders Map. Because you are the son of James Potter, we will give you the passphrase. If you would like to activate the map, say, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Then, when you wish the map to be blank again, say, "Mischief managed." This map must never be revealed to any teacher, and you are strongly encouraged to use it for pranks.**_

"Blimey, Harry, you're famous everywhere!" George hit him on the shoulder.

"And to think the hours we spent trying to get this to work!" Fred laughed. "And you did it in like ten minutes!"

"Let's see what we have, then," George said, opening the map. "Harry, you do the honors."

Grinning, Harry said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The map then came alive, ink splashing all over it and the map moving. The boys bent over the map and began to examine it.

"This is no treasure map," George said, his voice getting excited. "This is a map of Hogwarts."

"With everything on it," Fred said in awe. "Look, there's a secret passage that goes into Hogsmeade."

"And it looks like there's markings for everyone," Harry said. "Look, Dumbledore is in his office right now. And Snape's in the Dungeon."

"Do you realize the pranking potential for this?" George asked. "This doesn't need to be a treasure map, it is a treasure!"

"We can see people coming!" Fred crowed. "Filch will never catch us again!"

"We will be legendary pranksters!" George agreed. "We will become Hogwarts legends!"

"This is brilliant!" Harry smiled back at them. "Just think of the potential. But I think we ought to find out everything we can about this map before making too much use of it - we need to know what it does."

"Let's bloody test it out then," George said. "Come on! No time like the present."

"Okay, but I have to make it to tea with my dad on time," Harry conceded.

"Don't worry, he's still in his labs," Fred said, looking at the map. "I say we go and visit someone and prank them. Who shall it be?"

"Filch is in the kitchens," Harry observed. "Probably getting a snack. Dumbledore is headed towards the dining hall, would that be a good prank target?"

"We never prank Dumbledore," George answered, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Harry asked, innocently.

"Don't ask," Fred said. "Just believe us. Never prank the headmaster."

"Okay, how about some Slytherins?" Harry asked. "Don't you usually aim at them?"

"Right, let's see now, Flint is outside the library," George observed. "He could be a good target."

"What shall it be?" Fred asked. "Green hair?"

"How about a dungbomb?" Harry asked. "We could set it off just outside the Slytherin Common room. That way they have to wade through the stench to get in and out."

"Brilliant, Harry," Fred agreed. "I have a few still stashed in my trunk. I'll pop up and get a couple, and I'll meet you down there."

George and Harry made their way down to the Slytherin common room, trying to look casual. They didn't round the corner to the common room, however, because they didn't want to be seen by the portrait. Instead, they ducked into a dark alcove to consult the map.

Fred soon joined them, and they waited until the map showed them that the coast was clear. "Mischief Managed," Harry said, tucking the map into his robes. "Let's go."

Fred took the dung bomb, and tapped it with his wand, saying, "Aperta Stercus" and then throwing it at the portrait for Slytherin, without ever showing the portrait his face. The three then ran for it, just barely being able to smell the stench as they ran away. They could hear the cries of the Slytherins as they slipped into the courtyard, and then tried to be casual.

Harry, laughing, slipped the map back to Fred and said, "That was so much fun! Here, take this back. I've got to get to tea or my dad will skin me!"

"Good luck not giving yourself away," Fred told him. "We have just begun to realize how amazing this map is going to be."

Harry, laughing, ran down to the dungeons to see Snape, having to hold his nose as he passed by the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Whew," Harry said, holding his nose as he entered Snape's quarters. "It smells really bad out there."

"Probably the result of a dungbomb," Snape sniffed. "I will have to see if those Weasley boys are responsible. It's their signature prank."

"Hard thing to prove, though," Harry offered. "Unless there's an eye witness."

"Or a confession," Snape said, turning his gimlet eye on Harry. "What exactly do you know, Harry?"

"Me? How would I know anything?" Harry replied, careful not to actually lie.

 _Great,_ Snape thought to himself. _Now he's a prankster. Those twins are a bad influence._

"Well, perhaps you could enlighten me," Snape told him.

"I'm not even sure where to get a dungbomb," Harry answered honestly. "Are they much of a problem here at Hogwarts?"

"Not too much, usually," Snape told him. They both knew that Harry knew about the prank, but Snape also had a sense of honor - he wouldn't invade Harry's mind for something as innocent as a dungbomb prank. _And,_ he reasoned _, if the boy was learning not to get caught that was actually a useful skill. Perhaps this could even distract him from pursuing Black._

"Just out of curiousity," Harry asked, helping himself to a biscuit. "Sometimes you discipline me for what happens at school and sometimes you let the school's punishment be my only consequence. When should I expect you to add to my school consequences?"

"Well, if it's a severe infraction that requires a note home, then obviously I will discipline you as well," Snape said, thinking. "And of course for anything that is either dangerous or in direct disobedience to me. Smaller infractions the school can handle."

"So if I had helped with the pixie prank at Hogwarts, what would have happened?"

"That was dangerous mostly because of being on a train," Snape told him. "but Pixies can be dangerous for first years who can't defend themselves. If the pixies had been set on fourth year students at school, then I probably would not have added to your punishment. But if you set them on first years, I would have."

"I see," Harry answered, calculating. "So if a prank is relatively harmless, you would leave me up to the discipline of the school."

"Yes," Snape answered, his eyes narrowing. "Unless, of course, it was me who catches you. Then I decide your school punishment, and it will probably involve detention. Detentions with me are a thing to be feared by all Hogwarts students."

Harry nodded, trying to look innocent. "Of course, Dad," he innocently agreed.

"Dungbombs are really quite pedestrian," Snape told him, sipping his tea. "I would expect my son to have more creativity than that."


	12. Chapter 12 - Dogs and Snakes

_AN: I hope you enjoyed the part about the Marauder's Map. I'm trying to follow the events in canon as closely as I can if they had happened in these set of circumstances. The Weasley twins stole the map their first year (while in Filch's office for setting of dungbombs) and it took them a while to work out how to use it, but of course in my story Harry helped them. There will be several things that happen this year that happened in Prisoner of Azkaban in canon, but that's because Snape's visit prompted his breakout rather than his realization that Peter Pettigrew was masquerading as Ron's pet at Hogwarts. That's also one of the reasons we haven't seen Voldemort yet, because in canon right now he's running around as a spirit and has yet to infect Quirrell._

 _As always, I love to have comments, suggestions, plot ideas, things you'd love to see, etc. either in the reviews or as a PM to me. Unfortunately if you're not logged in I cannot reply to your review, just FYI. It's fun collaborating on stories, and I've done one one-shot that was suggested by a reader and am co-writing another with another reader/author._

* * *

"Did you see that dog?" Harry asked Malfoy as they landed their brooms at the end of broom practice.

"No, what dog?" Malfoy asked.

"There was a large, black dog at the edge of the field," Harry answered, perplexed. "It looked like it was . . . watching us."

"So famous even a dog wants to see you?" Malfoy scoffed.

"Seeing a black dog isn't considered a good sign," Ron told him, jumping into the conversation. "Harry, did you see a grim?"

"What's a grim?" Harry asked.

"It's for old wives and grannies," Malfoy scoffed. "There's certain things that they say you see as some sort of sign you'll die."

"He's the only one who saw it," Ron protested, looking worried.

"It's just a dog," Draco scoffed. "And it's gone now. Potter, let us know if you see something in your tea leaves, will you?"

"I'm sure it's nothing," Harry agreed. "It was just - creepy - how the dog was just looking up at us."

"Whatever, it's a dog," Malfoy rolled his eyes. "You act like it's Sirius Black with his wand drawn or something. C'mon, it's lunch time."

During lunch, the Weasley twins signalled to Harry. Smirking, Harry excused himself for the toilet and met them in there.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We've found something amazing!" they told him together.

Fred continued, "The Map really is the most amazing thing ever."

"There are seven passages to Hogsmeade from the castle," George explained. "But some of them we already knew, and we know that some of them Filch knows about. But we're pretty sure that at least one of them isn't known by anybody. And that one leads to the cellar of Honeyduke's!"

"Isn't that the sweet shop?" Harry asked.

"Give the man a chocolate frog!" Fred exclaimed. "He's right on the money!"

"Let's go this weekend," Harry told them. "Saturday. I can tell Snape I'm out flying with you guys, and we can go to Honeyduke's."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Would you guys mind me borrowing the map tonight?" Harry asked. "There's some things I want to look at."

"No problem," George told him. "Here, I've kept it on me. Don't get caught."

"I'll be careful," Harry promised him, tucking the map under his robes. And he would be.

That afternoon at tea, Harry mentioned the dog to Snape. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason that dog bothered him.

"While I was out flying today I saw a large black dog," Harry told Snape, sipping his tea. "Ron said it was a grim. I don't know, it gave me the creeps."

"Hmm," Snape replied non-committally, though his ears perked up with a reference to Black's animagus form.

"Do you believe in grims, Dad?"

"Well, there are occasionally prophecies that are real," Snape conceded. _He would not go into that particular issue until Harry was much older,_ he promised himself. "But all the rubbish of looking at tea leaves and watching for grims is simply silly in my opinion."

"Good," Harry seemed relieved.

"What did the dog look like?" Snape asked carefully, trying not to seem too interested. He didn't want to scare the lad.

"I don't know," Harry thought. "Big and black. Skinny and mangy too, like he was a stray. But he was weird too, in that he just seemed to be watching me. I've never heard of a dog watching a boy fly, have you?"

"Perhaps he was simply wondering what kind of bird you were and if you were good to eat," Snape smiled, thinking, _Damn it, Black is here!_

Harry smiled. "Good thing he couldn't fly then, he looked pretty hungry."

"If you see him again, let me know," he told Harry casually. "Perhaps we should let Hagrid know there's a stray around. A hungry, disease-ridden dog is not a safe thing to have on a school campus. Perhaps Hagrid can catch and relocate the thing."

"I'll let you know," Harry answered, shrugging. "Are we going to practice spells tonight?"

"Yes," Snape answered. "I believe we are going to be working on the Snake Summoning Spell."

"Sounds good," Harry smiled. "I'm looking forward to it. It seems pretty scary to be able to summon a snake."

"It's easily countered," Snape explained. "But it's a good one to throw your opponent off their game. Many people have an innate fear reaction to snakes."

Harry shrugged. "I kind of like them. I haven't seen very many, however."

"They're relatively easy to conjure," Snape told him. "The spell cast is 'Serpensortia.' You can practice the word over dinner, and we can practically apply it afterwards."

After dinner, Harry eagerly went to his lessons with Snape. He loved this time with his father, and Snape had been teaching him more and more advanced spells. But this snake one - he just really was excited about it and he couldn't really articulate why. He had always sort of wanted a snake as a pet, could he have a snake that he conjured? It seemed exciting to be able to conjure one any time he wanted to do it.

"Have you been practicing?" Snape asked as they readied their practice space. As their spells got larger and needed more space they had taken to using an unused classroom on the third floor.

"Yes," Harry answered, with a grin. "This is going to be a wicked spell."

"The wandwork is like this," Snape showed him a simple upward swish. "And make sure you say it clearly and with conviction. The more conviction, the larger the snake."

Harry copied the wand movements, and then said clearly, "Serpensortia!" Then, in a flash of white light, a large snake appeared.

"It appears you've conjured a Boa Constrictor," Snape nodded. "Adequate first attempt."

Harry watched the snake, and the snake moved closer to the boy. Snape had to remind himself that the snake was not poisonous, and if he tried to constrict Harry that the countercurse was very simple.

"You sssumons me?" the snake hissed at Harry, causing him to blink.

"I did summon you," Harry replied. "You are the first snake I've ever conjured."

"A young wisssssard," the snake hissed again. "And a ssssspeaker. Do you wantssss me to bite the other one?"

"No, don't bite him," Harry assured him. "He's my father and he taught me how to conjure you. Do all snakes talk?"

"Yessss," the snake responded. "But not every wissssssard can hear."

"Vipera Evanesca," he heard Snape cast, and then the snape disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Cool!" Harry breathed. "That was great! Can we do it again?"

Snape didn't answer, and Harry looked at him in concern. Snape looked pale and serious, and he stared at Harry, blinking.

"How long have you been a parselmouth?" he asked softly.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"How long have you been able to speak to snakes?"

Harry shrugged. "I've never talked like that to one. But I've seen a few garden snakes and thought I could understand them."

"Did you know you were speaking in parseltongue just then?"

"No," Harry smiled. "I was speaking another language? Cool."

"Being a Parselmouth is very rare, Harry," Snape told him. "And this is something that can be seen as a dark magic."

"I'm not dark!" Harry protested.

"Of course not," Snape told him. "It a gift, just like anything else. It's just that who has been parselmouths in the past that makes people prejudiced about it."

"Who were parselmouths?"

"Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of the school," Snape explained. "And, more recently, the Dark Lord."

"Is that why I can do it?" Harry asked. "Is it because of the Dark Lord dying when he tried to kill me?"

"I don't know," Snape answered honestly. "It can also pop up randomly as well. Don't worry about it, Harry, but just don't let others know."

"Can I tell my friends?" he asked.

"If you must," Snape told him. "But only the very close ones, and only if you find it necessary. It should not be idle gossip."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "But does that mean that there's something wrong with me?"  
"Of course not," Snape assured him. "But as I said, it is a gift that there are prejudices against. You need to keep it quiet because of other people, not because there's anything wrong with you. Now, I want you to try again with more conviction, and then I will teach you the countercurse."

Harry smiled and raised his wand.


	13. Chapter 13 - Spying

That night, after Snape thought that Harry was asleep in bed, he sought out Dumbledore and McGonagall for advice. And there was much to discuss, with Black being seen by Harry as well as the fact that he was a parselmouth. He was quite concerned. He met McGonagall outside of Dumbledore's office, and they began talking while waiting for Dumbledore.

Harry secretly followed behind, using the map to be able to hang back. He wanted to find out what Snape was meeting with someone about. He knew that Snape knew a lot that he wasn't sharing, and this was his chance to find out. Following Snape was dangerous, though, so he hung back as much as possible. It felt dangerous, scary, but also something different - it felt brave. He liked it.

"Calm yourself, Severus," McGonagall told him. "We knew that Black was going to show up at some point."

"But he was watching Harry on his broom!" Snape told her. "He was that close!"

"Be quiet or people beyond you and I will know he is an animagus," she hissed. "Next you'll be broadcasting that he's Harry's Godfather."

"Minerva, this is getting complicated," Snape answered her. "And we need to catch that mutt in order to prove him innocent."

"Well, you had said something about a trap . . ."

Just then, Snape held up his hand to silence her. He scanned the room, with his eyes settling on a dark corner. His eyes narrowed, and then he strode to the corner with purpose. McGonagall gasped as Snape extracted a very embarrassed Harry Potter by his collar. Snape jerked the lad out of the corner and gave him a shake.

"How dare you!" he growled lowly. "You followed me! You were eavesdropping!"

"I'm sorry!" Harry squealed, desperate. "I'm sorry!"

Snape breathed in and out deliberately, trying to cool his temper. He saw the look of fear in Harry's eyes, and felt a twinge of remorse for being the one that put it there. He breathed again, tempering his words and trying to not scare him.

"You will return to your bedroom now and you will go to sleep," he told him firmly. "It goes without saying that you will not repeat what you have heard to anybody."

"I'm sorry," Harry repeated, looking up to Snape with fearful eyes.

"Go to sleep tonight, it's late," Snape told him. "I will spank you in the morning."

Harry gulped, but nodded. He was trying to calm himself, reminding himself that this was his dad, not his uncle. He found his breath returning to normal. He would be fine, it would hurt a bit and that would be it. His breathing calmed, but his stomach still squirmed in fear.

"Go now," he told him. "No arguments."

Harry hung his head and then set off for their quarters. He didn't chance a look at the map until he was back in his room, and then he saw that Snape was in Dumbledore's office, meeting with McGonagall and Dumbledore. Harry wished that he could be there when they were talking, but he had a feeling that breaking into Dumbledore's office would get him the ruler for sure, though he wasn't sure that he didn't deserve it already. With a sigh, he changed into his pajamas and tried to fall asleep with everything running through his head. That dog he saw was Sirius Black? Sirius Black was his Godfather? His dad was trying to catch Sirius Black to prove him innocent? He wished he could talk through these issues with Snape. But instead, he was waiting for Snape to come and punish him like some naughty toddler. It rankled.

"Are you sure the boy heard you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Snape confirmed, rubbing his face in frustration. "He now knows that Black is the black dog that he saw, and he knows that Black is his Godfather. Exactly what we had hoped to spare him."

"Well, he knows now," McGonagall said briskly. "He is a reasonable boy, he should be alright with this information."

"I could obliviate him," Snape grumbled. "But then I couldn't spank him for it."

"We do not go around obliviating students," Dumbledore told Snape firmly. "This is information we are just going to have to deal with Harry having. Now, you said that all three of them were animagi?"

"Unlicensed ones," Snape confirmed. "Did either of you suspect while they were here?"

"No," McGonagall admitted. "But now that I know some things do make more sense. Those boys would do anything for their friend."

"Lupin and Black, perhaps," Snape said. "But what about Pettigrew?"

"I confess I did not know him well, for all he was a Gryffindor," McGonagall admitted. "He was a quiet boy, more of a hanger-on. I remember being surprised he was in Gryffindor."

"So is that your main theory then?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Snape answered. "I believe that Pettigrew convinced Black that the Potters would be safer with him as the secret keeper because everyone thought it would be Black. He then betrayed the Potters to Lord Voldemort. Black ran off to confront Pettigrew without a plan and in a rage, like the idiotic Gryffindor he was. Pettigrew then caused an explosion and turned into a rat, effectively framing Black."

"But they found his finger!" McGonagall protested.

"Yes, a rather non-vital part," Snape confirmed.

"So where has he been all these years?" Dumbledore asked. "Has he been a rat all these years?"

"My guess is he would remain a rat," Snape told them. "If I were him I would find a way to become part of a wizarding family, preferably one with no ties to the Potters or Blacks where someone might recognize him. Perhaps he would try to be a familiar, that would be far more comfortable and less risky than as a pest."

"So we're looking for a rat who is missing his finger and part of a wizarding family as a familiar?" McGonagall asked. "That's a bit of a needle in a haystack."

"Perhaps we should concentrate on Sirius, then," Dumbledore told him. "Have you thought of a trap for him?"

"The only bait we have is Harry," Snape told them. "And I am loathe to use him."

"There is another way," Dumbledore smiled. "You told me that he became irate that you, Severus, were raising Harry. Perhaps you yourself could be bait."

Snape smiled at the idea, but shook his head. "Albus, when I saw the man he was emaciated, half-crazy and wandless. Surely he would think twice about going against me, a talented wizard in my prime."

"How much does he hate you?" Albus asked levelly.

"Alright, we'll see if I can be bait," Snape answered. "What's your plan?"

* * *

Harry heard Snape return late that night, and heard him prepare for bed. His stomach flipped, and he pushed himself out of bed. He just couldn't take waiting anymore, he couldn't sleep. He made his way to his father's bedroom.

"Are you still awake?" he heard Snape ask him in surprise. "It's past midnight."

"I couldn't sleep," Harry confessed. "I am very sorry for following you, Dad."

"I know you are," Snape sighed. "I know that you want to know as much as possible, it's hard for you to trust me. But disobeying and sneaking around the castle after bedtime is against the rules, and you know it."

Harry nodded, looking down.

"Go to bed now, child, and we'll deal with your disobedience in the morning."

"Please, sir," Harry asked, looking down. "Please. I can't sleep knowing what's coming."

"Is it really that dreadful?" Snape asked, concerned. "You know I am not going to beat you."

"I know," Harry squirmed. "It's not that. It's just after, you know."

"I'm afraid I don't know, Harry."

"It's just after. When you forgive me," Harry whispered. "I can't sleep with you being mad at me."

"Harry, do you think I spank you because I'm mad at you?"

Harry nodded miserably.

"And you think I forgive you because I've spanked you?"

Harry nodded again.

Suddenly, Harry found himself gathered in Snape's arms, and cuddled against the unfamiliar fabric of Snape's pajamas. The tears that were threatening before began to fall, and Harry just relished the feeling of the embrace.

"You're forgiven, foolish child," Snape told him, patting his back. "I do not spank you because I'm angry, and you do not get forgiven because I've punished you. No, you are forgiven now. You will still be punished, but it's to help you remember to obey me. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Harry told him, relieved. Snape's assurance calmed that part of him that was afraid that Snape would hate him.

"Since you are so upset I will give you the choice of being punished tonight or tomorrow," Snape told him.

"Tonight, please," Harry breathed a sigh of relief, though the squirming in his stomach picked up dramatically.

"Then over my lap, child."

Wiping his eyes, Harry placed himself over Snape's lap. He silently wished he'd still had his sturdy trousers on, he knew that he would feel the smacks far more clearly through his pajamas than he would have through his trousers. _Oh well,_ he told himself. _At least it will be over._

"Why am I punishing you, Harry?" Snape asked firmly.

"For spying on you and being out of bed after bedtime," Harry answered.

"Ten smacks for each offense," Snape intoned. "Unless you have a plea for mercy?"

"Twenty is a lot," Harry said, feeling small. "It wasn't that bad. I mean, I was with you, so if something happened you could have helped me."

"And you also found out dangerous information I did not mean for you to have," Snape growled. "You're lucky it's not with the ruler."

Harry gulped. "You're right," he answered.

"Fifteen, then," Snape answered. "But they will be very firm, Harry."

Harry grabbed onto Snape's pants, and braced for the first smack. It came, stinging and hard. _This was going to hurt more than the pixie prank,_ he realized, scrunching his face and letting out a small yelp. The smacks followed, stinging and firm, and carefully aimed to cover his entire bottom. By the time the last two smacks fell on his upper thighs, Harry's face was wet with tears and his backside throbbed.

After delivering the last two smacks, Snape rested his hand on the small boy's back, feeling the muscles shake and he patted him gently. "It's all over, Harry," Snape told him gently.

Harry pushed himself off of Snape's lap and then reached for his Dad. Snape caught him and held him tight, careful not to put pressure on his sore backside.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Harry," Snape told him gently. "I really dislike having to do that."

"I learned," Harry assured him, and then with a half-laugh said, "I don't like it much either."

Snape's lips smirked and he replied, "I suppose you didn't."

"Can I sleep in here with you?" Harry asked pitifully. "Please?"

"Very well," Snape agreed. "But no stealing the covers, and straight to sleep. I know you must have a lot of questions, but they must wait until morning."

"Okay," Harry agreed, and soon found himself lying on his stomach in Snape's comfortable bed. The sting on his backside rapidly faded, and he found himself very drowsy. He blinked, and was soon asleep.

Snape heard Harry's breathing changed, and was able to relax listening to Harry sleep. _It was silly how the child couldn't sleep before,_ he told himself. _But he could sleep better with his backside stinging. It makes no sense at all._

Snape cuddled into his pillow, soon following Harry into sleep.

And somewhere in the castle, plans were being made. For Harry was not the only one who had overheard Snape's and McGonagall's careless words outside of the Headmaster's office.


	14. Chapter 14 - Hogsmeade

_AN: A shout out to fellow writer and co-conspirator RUgoing2writethat for the typo corrections and for all kinds of fun plot ideas, specifically the house elf scene in this chapter._

* * *

The next morning at breakfast Harry found that while Snape answered some questions, he wasn't completely forthcoming.

"So why doesn't anybody know he can change into a dog?" Harry asked.

"Well," Snape said, considering. "Usually when a wizard becomes an animagus they're supposed to register it with the ministry. McGonagall is an animagus, and she can become a cat. So they know that, and any crime she commits as a cat she's still responsible for. But when Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and your father were in school they secretly became animagi, and then didn't tell anyone. That was very dangerous, they could easily have been killed in the transformation."

"Why did they do it, then?"

Snape sighed. "You know that Lupin is a werewolf, right? Well, they did it so they could be with him during the times he transformed. Werewolves are only a danger to humans."

"So the dog I saw was Black?"

"Almost certainly."

Harry thought about that for a minute, and said, "What form was my father?"

"I believe he was a stag," Snape replied. "Apparently his size and full antlers were very good at keeping the werewolf in check. Peter was a rat, so mostly not useful."

"So what does it mean that he's my Godfather?"

"Well, legally he has a claim on you," Snape answered, forcing his voice to remain calm. "But I'm your Godfather too. I was your mother's choice, and Black was your father's choice. But don't worry about that, no government official is going to give him a child."

"But what if you do prove him innocent?" Harry asked in a small voice.

"We shall cross that bridge when we get to it," Snape told him firmly. "But I want you to consider what it would be like for him to parent a child. He's been in prison for several years, and is likely a little bit crazy. He has no job, no home, and is unstable. It would take years before he could provide those things for you. And you're also forgetting something else."

"What?" Harry asked.

"That we love each other, and that you have a say in where you live. I don't think the ministry would remove you from my care unless I was seen as unfit. Because of the adoption, they have to treat us as if I were biologically your father."

"So if you prove him innocent, what would my relationship with SIrius look like?"

"Well, if he's safe and not too crazy, perhaps you could have another uncle," Snape told him.

Harry nodded thoughtfully, feeling safer than he had in a long time. "What is your plan for catching Black?"

"Better you don't know," Snape told him. "We're still working out the kinks. I will let you know what I can when it is appropriate for you to know."

Harry grimaced at that, but tried to understand. Sighing, he said, "Can I please tell Ron and Hermione? They're helping me work this out."

"No," Snape said. "These are things you must keep quiet. Promise me."

Harry squirmed, not wanting to promise. But Snape looked at him firmly, and Harry knew that he would have to promise. "I promise," he said, grumbling.

"You had better not even consider breaking that promise," Snape told him firmly. "It is very important. Now I believe it's time you headed to class. Unless you have more questions?"

"No, not for now anyway."

"Good," Snape nodded curtly. "I also wanted to let you know that Saturday night you're going to have a babysitter for a few hours. I was thinking of asking Poppy, does that sound suitable to you?"

"Sure," Harry agreed smoothly. "But I was going to spend the afternoon with the Weasley twins flying."

"That should be fine," Snape answered, distracted. "Just go with Poppy after dinner. See you at tea time."

"I am sorry," Harry told him, still looking down. "I shouldn't have followed you."

"I know you are," Snape answered softly. "You've paid for it, we won't speak of it anymore."

After Harry had left to go flying with his friends, Snape looked fondly after the boy. Shaking his head, he thought, _That boy is going to be the death of me._

"Mores coffees?" he heard Maisie ask.

"Yes, please," he said, absently. He glanced at the diminutive house elf, and suddenly she caught his attention. Her eyes were red-rimmed as if she'd been crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked her softly.

"Its Kreacher, mys father," she answered, starting to silently weep. "Hes sos anxious and upsets. His heart cannots takes this, masters."

"Cannot take what?"

Maisie just shook her head, she wasn't able to say. "Please don't makes me say," she pleaded.

Snape sighed. "Would a calming draught help?" he asked. "It's a potion that works on House Elves."

Maisie nodded vigorously, obviously grateful. "You can take a few bottles out of our house supplies and take it to him. He should only take one quarter of a vial twice a day."

"Thanks yous, master," she gushed, and then hurried to the potion stash.

Snape watched her go, filing that piece of information away. What was bothering Kreacher so much?

* * *

On Saturday, Harry did spend the morning flying with the Weasley twins. They had lunch in the great hall, and then planned their escapade for the afternoon. _It will be perfect,_ Harry thought. _That way I will have until the next morning until I see Snape, so it's unlikely I would have to lie and he could tell. I should get off completely free._ He did think a bit about the likely punishment if he was found out, but he pushed those thoughts far from his thoughts. If it meant that he would have time with the Weasleys, then it was worth it. One thing about Snape not being a tyrant, it made it so he could disobey if the incentive was enough. And he really didn't want to say no to George and Fred, it would have been really difficult to not do it. He had made the decision to do it, and hope for the best; though his backside trembled a bit thinking of what would happen if Snape found out.

"You sure you're up for this?" Fred asked Harry as they met together after lunch.

"I am," Harry assured him. "I even brought some of my pocket money to spend."

George nodded, and soon they found themselves going down the passage that had been marked by a one-eyed witch. The passage was cobwebby and musty, nobody had been down it in quite some time. Fred and George cast Lumos with their wands so that they could see, and Harry found himself coughing with all of the dust. But eventually the passage sloped up again, and they found themselves in a cellar stocked with boxes and filled with the sickly-sweet smell of candy.

"We're here!" Fred breathed. "It really worked!"

The three emerged from the cellar, smiles cracking their dusty faces. Honeydukes was so busy on the Saturday that nobody even noticed them coming up from the cellars.

"Harry, we must introduce you to wizarding candy!" George announced. "Have you ever had ice mice? Or Bertie Bott's every flavor beans?"

"Chocolate frogs," Fred countered. "He looks like a chocolate frog man. C'mon Harry, we'll help you spend your pocket money."

They then spent the next half hour spending Harry's pocket money, which he gladly shared with his less cash-handy compatriots. He had never had pocket money before Snape, so he was more than happy to share with others who didn't have any either.

"Very good of you, mate," George thanked him, biting into an ice mice.

"Very good," Fred agreed, munching on toffee popcorn.

"My pleasure," Harry answered. "Can we look around a bit before we go home? I mean, we're out of money, but it would be fun to walk around a bit."

"Sure, no rush," George agreed. "Let's have a stroll then. It's not a weekend where Hogwarts students are meant to be here, so nobody should recognize us."

They walked out into the fresh fall sunshine, and Harry smiled. It felt so good to be out in the town with friends, he almost forgot to be scared of Snape finding out.

"Well, hello there Harry Potter," he heard a soft Scottish voice say from behind him. "What brings ye tae Hogsmeade?"

He turned to see Madame MacKenzie behind him, smiling kindly down at him. "Ye look hale and hearty, are ye feeling better, then?"

"Yes, much better," Harry answered, trying to seem calm and normal. "And how are you?"

"Very well. Are you going to introduce your fine friends here?"

"These are Fred and George Weasley," Harry introduced, wishing he had a moment to think of a plan that he wouldn't have to reveal his fellow escapees. If this got back to Snape . . .

"Charmed," Fred said, shaking her hand. "And how do you know our little Harry?"

"I've filled in a few times at the Hogwarts infirmary," she told them. "Poor lad, he was a bit worse off last I saw. Good tae see ye fit, Harry."

"Erm, thanks," Harry answered, his ears going pink.

"I didn't think this was a weekend for the Hogwarts students," Madame MacKenzie observed.

"We're here with special permission," George told her amiably. "We're just doing a few errands."

"Honeyduke's is an errand?" she asked suspiciously.

"Of course not," Fred answered, a wicked twinkle in his eye. "But since we're here, you know, we thought we'd take advantage."

"I see," she answered, her eyes twinkling. "You laddies look up for a bit of mischief, ye do. Well, see ye stay out of trouble . . ."

As she was saying that, Harry's face suddenly became white and pale. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black dog. When he looked directly, though, the dog was gone. He calmed down his inner panic, surely he would be safe here, surrounded by other wizards. Surely nothing would happen.

"Our errands are done, however, so we should head back," Harry told her, trying to keep his voice steady. "It was very nice to see you again, Madame MacKenzie."

"Yes, you too," she replied. Then, seeing Harry's face, she asked, "Is everything a'right, Harry? Ye look like ye've seen a ghostie."

"I'm fine," Harry answered, trying to remain calm. "I think I'm just a little tired. We should head back."

"Right," Fred said, his forehead creasing in worry at Harry's face. "Nice to meet you Madame . . ."

As Fred was giving his polite leave to Madame MacKenzie, he was not paying attention to the slightly shaggy-looking man who was walking on the path behind them. He walked casually, looking away from the small party, but made his way there. He came closer and closer, trying not to draw anyone's eye. Then, at the last minute, he made a dive for the boy.

Harry felt hairs prickle on the back of his neck, and then he whirled around just in time to see a shaggy-dark haired man dive at him. Harry's hand went to the necklace he always wore, but the man snapped it out of his fingers and threw it, almost as if he knew what it was. He then grabbed both of Harry's arms, and before Fred or George could even yell in alarm, the disapparated away in a loud crack.


	15. Chapter 15 - Taken

_AN: just to answer a few questions: the alarm necklace wasn't unbreakable and Sirius got his wand from the family store of wands at his residence (hide out). Thanks for reading and reviewing!_

* * *

Harry woke up in a dusty but strangely familiar house. He coughed a bit, and then tried sitting up. Where was he?

"You're awake!" he heard a rough, dry voice grate from across the room. "Don't worry, Harry, I've rescued you!"

Harry coughed again, and his eyes slowly focused on the man across the room. He was that same shaggy man that had grabbed him. He knew not to react and to beg to go back, this man was crazy. He was crazy like Uncle Vernon, and they had to be placated.

"Are you Sirius Black?" Harry asked softly.

"I am," the man smiled, looking even more deranged.

"Then you're my Godfather," Harry forced himself to smile. Let's hope he's rubbish at reading people's minds, unlike Snape, Harry thought frantically. He looked around, realizing why this place looked familiar. This was where Walburga Black had brought him, this was the Black family house. He also knew that last time the alarm that he had had let Snape in. His hand went to his neck reflexively.

"I got rid of everything that Snape could use to track you," Sirius told him, grinning broadly. "You're safe here, he can't find you."

"Oh, thanks," Harry told him, eyeing him warily. "That's, um, good to hear. Where am I?"

"My hide-out," Sirius smiled broadly. "My ancestral home. It's unplotable and unfindable, so we are safe here."

"Um, good. Should we let Dumbledore know that I am safe?"

"No!" Sirius yelled harshly, then laughed in an unhinged way. Harry backed up a little. "No, don't you see?" Sirius told him. "Dumbledore put you with Sniv - Snape in the first place. He can't be trusted. Only I can be trusted with you."

"Oh, I didn't know that," Harry told him, licking his lips as his brain worked overtime. Who would Sirius trust? "I can see you know a lot more about this than I do."

"I do," Sirius told him. "Now are you alright? Did Snape hurt you? Beat you?"

"No more than he had to," Harry sighed softly. "But I'm pretty naughty."

"Don't say that," Sirius told him. "You are just like James, you will be fine. A little naughty is exactly how you're supposed to be, and only a tyrant would want to stop that."

"Snape does really punish me for pranks," Harry told him. "You should have seen this great prank I did on the Hogwarts train! A couple of friends and I set a bunch of pixies loose in the Slytherin car!"

"Wonderful!" Sirius cackled. "Inspired!"

"But of course Snape put me over his knee for it," Harry sighed. "It's so unfair."

"That bastard!" Sirius fumed.

"Lupin always sticks up for me, though," Harry told him. "There's little he can do, though. Snape was put in charge of me, not him."

"Lupin? You know him?"

"Of course," Harry answered. "He's my teacher at Hogwarts. It's hard for him to find a job because he's a werewolf, so Dumbledore hired him to teach the young students."

"You know about his furry problem?"

"Of course," Harry told him. "Lupin has been such a soft place for me. I, well, I care about him a great deal. I think he's tried to look after me a bit because he knew my father."

"I knew your father too, Harry."

"That's right," Harry nodded. "You're like Lupin?"

"Of course. That's why I took you away from Snape. I want you to be happy, and I knew that he would abuse you."

"Thank you for rescuing me," Harry told him. "But I'm worried that Lupin will be worried about me. Could we send him a note to let him know that I'm safe?"

"Your feelings do you credit, dear boy," Sirius smiled. "I will think about how to get him a message. I don't have an owl, and it's too risky to do much else."

"I've seen people use a Patronus to send information," Harry told him. "Would it be safe to do that?"

"Great idea, my boy!" Sirius answered. "You are smart like James. But I only have a wand I took from our family store of wands. I'm not sure how it will work for a Patronus."

"Well, nothing's hurt for trying, is it?" Harry asked him. "I'll bet your Patronus is something really cool."

"It's actually a dog," Sirius answered. "Just like my animagus form. Alright, let's give it a try. Expecto Patronum!" he called out. A silvery mist formed and then coalesced into a large dog shape.

"Wow, Sirius!" Harry enthused. "That's a great one!"

"Didn't know I had it in me," he smiled. "It's probably all the happiness from getting you, Harry. Okay, go and tell Moony that I have Prong's cub and that he's safe."

Harry watched the dog dart off to fulfill his mission, and breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully that was enough info to get Snape started searching. Gulping, he also realized that getting kidnapped was his fault. Snape made rules to keep him safe, and his breaking the rules are what took him beyond the protective wards of Hogwarts and what got him in trouble. Snape really should beat me for this one, he thought darkly. I deserve it.

"Do you need a drink?" Sirius asked. "I have firewhiskey."

"I'm ten," Harry answered. "Do you have pumpkin juice or butterbeer?"

"Um, no," he answered. "I'll get Kreacher to buy some next time he's out. Tea?"

"Tea," Harry answered.

"Kreacher!" Sirius called.

"What do you want, filthy blood traitor?" an aged and obviously upset house elf asked.

"Bring us tea," he told the house elf. "And keep your disgusting comments to yourself."

"Blood traitor bringing over a mudblood," Kreacher commented, leaving the room. "Poor mistress, if she were alive . . ."

"Sorry about him," Sirius told Harry. "He's still sad my mum's gone. But he has to obey me, I inherited all of this."

Harry looked around, remembering when he had been here before. He did the first part of the plan by informing Remus of who had him, and now he had to think about what to do next. It seemed like playing along with Sirius would keep him safer, and maybe even give him a chance to escape. After all, if he thought that Harry was grateful to be away from Snape he wouldn't dream that Harry would want to escape there.

"So how has it been? I mean, after breaking out of prison."

"It's hard because I have to hide all the time," Sirius told him. "But I did like watching you the times I could."

"I saw you once when I was flying," Harry confirmed. "I didn't know it was you, then."

"So you've seen Padfoot, then?" Sirius smiled. "Oh, the fun you, I mean, your dad and I had as animagi. Have you ever tried to transform, Harry?"

"I don't even have a wand yet," Harry told him. "I think I'm too young."

"Well, maybe when you're older then," Sirius smiled. "I can help you."

"I would like that," Harry answered, keeping his voice soft and placating. "Can I see your wand?"

Sirius chuckled. "Maybe later, scamp. You're too young to handle one now, so it wouldn't be responsible of me. Here's our tea!"

Grimacing at his try and a miss, Harry accepted the tea. Harry grimaced at the dusty taste of the tea, it tasted years old. He wondered if this tea was bought by Walburga herself. There was no milk to add, but Harry added three sugarcubes to try and mask the dusty flavor.

"Do you like being at Hogwarts, Harry?" his Godfather asked.

Harry refrained from rolling his eyes, recognizing that it was not good to incite a kidnaper who may or may not have a history of murdering people, But seriously, this was such a mundane question. Harry couldn't believe he was sitting in a mouldering, decripit old mansion where he had been held prisoner before, sipping dusty and oer-sweet tea, and trying to make polite adult-child conversation. He felt like screaming at the insanity of it all. But instead, he answered, "Yes, Lupin is a good teacher."

"Good, good. Now I know this place isn't much, but I'm on the run now. Things will get better."

"Okay," Harry answered, taking another sip of tea.

"What do you like to do, Harry?"

Harry grimaced at the inane question, but answered, "My favorite thing is to fly. You were watching me the other day."

"Yes, you were wonderful!" Sirius answered. "You looked so much like James. He could fly really well too."

"Can you tell me more about my father?" Harry asked. "Please?"

Sirius smiled, but his eyes looked as though he were looking far away rather than at Harry. "James was the best of us, always the best. He was so young, so strong. His magic made it seem like he could do anything, anything at all. And the way he could fly . . . that was magic in itself."

"It sounds like you were close."

"As close as two mates could be," Sirius answered. "I mean, mates who liked girls. Anyway, James and I were so close always, which is why I was made their secret keeper. Except that I knew that I would be suspected so I talked them into it. My fault! It was my fault!"

Sirius began crying out desperately, throwing his cup across the room and collapsing on the floor. He pounded the dusty floorboards until clouds of dust surrounded him.

"Why James? Why you?" he wailed in grief. "It should have been me! You had a wife and a child, I had an old house elf! It should have been me!"

Harry, hoping he was distracted enough not to notice, began to make his way towards the fireplace. But before he could reach in the pot for floo powder, a grip of iron clamped down on his wrist.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Harry cried out, trying to look young and innocent. "You were scaring me. I wanted to get help. I thought Lupin would help."

"You were about to get away!" Sirius yelled sharply at him. "I ought to beat you for such cheek!"

"Please don't hurt me, sir," he begged, curling into a ball. "Don't hurt me."

"That Snape has you brainwashed!" Sirius declared. "It's not your fault, Harry. But I'm going to have to tie you until you come to your senses."

"Don't tie me," Harry begged. "I promise not to leave! I just thought you were sick and needed Lupin, that's all. I want to be here with you."

"I wish I could believe you," Sirius said sadly, using his wand to create ropes that tied Harry's hands.

"Unhand him!" Harry heard the most welcome voice he could imagine utter. "Black, back away from the boy."

"Get away, Snivellus," he roared. "Get away." He held his wand to Snape but held Harry with an iron grip.

"You don't want to hurt James' son," Snape told him calmly. "Let's talk calmly."

Harry assessed the situation, and decided that the safest thing would be for him to go with Sirius. Snape wouldn't attack if there was a chance Harry would be caught in the crossfire, and if he could get away with Sirius in a way that would make Sirius trust him, he would probably have a good chance of getting away.

"Sirius rescued me!" Harry yelled at Snape, praying that he would understand. "I want to go with my real Godfather!"

"Harry!" Snape answered, looking crushed.

"This is just like that time you whaled my arse in Malfoy's closet!" Harry yelled at him. "You think you can bully your way into things! Well, I get to make a choice and I choose Sirius! He's my real Godfather, not some greasy bat of the dungeons!"

Snape's eyes narrowed, but Harry could see that he understood. The time in Malfoy's closet was referring to the time Harry had punched Draco Malfoy and then hidden in a closet. Snape had followed, and by Lucius Malfoy's insistence gave him a spanking with a ruler. However, the ruler was charmed so that it didn't actually hurt Harry, it was a ruse. Well, all except that last whack, anyway. "You ungrateful whelp! I'm taking you home right now if for no other reason than to knock some reason into your head! How dare you speak to me like that?"

"I can speak to you any way I want!" Harry yelled, trying to think how Dudley would yell at people. "You are no longer my guardian! I'm going with Sirius!"

"I'm about to wash my hands of you," Snape warned, deadly serious.

"Then do it," Sirius yelled. "We're leaving!"

"Before we go, Godfather," Harry asked. "Snape has something of mine that Arthur Weasley gave me. Could I have it? It's just a necklace he made, but I really like it. Please, Padfoot?"

"But what if he's tracking it?"

"He could be tracking my shoes for all we know," Harry told him. "But I don't think he's coming back for me. He doesn't really love me, he just took me out of a sense of duty."

"Some duty," Snape growled. "Raising a disobedient brat that looked just like my childhood enemy. I am well shod of him. Here's the necklace, you insignificant brat. Good riddance."

Even though he knew it was a ruse, the words hurt him. Blinking back tears, Harry took the necklace and turned back to Sirius. "I'm ready to go, Godfather," he told him softly.

* * *

 _AN: Next up, this chapter from Snape's point of view._


	16. Chapter 16 - Slytherin Plans

_AN: Thank you everyone for all your reviews, I find them very helpful. I also wanted to note that I made Sirius far more deranged than he was in the book, just because I feel like the amount of time he spent in Azkaban coupled with his guilt over the Potters' deaths would have practically unhinged him._

* * *

Snape had watched Harry leave to go flying with the Weasley twins, and wondered if he should limit Harry's time with them. He knew that they were behind at least the pixie prank, if not other mischief-making Harry had gotten up to. He sighed, but knew that he would probably not discourage the relationship. Deep down he actually thought it did Harry some good to be able to rebel a bit, it meant that he trusted Snape not to kill him.

Shaking himself, he went over his plan that night again. He was going to go into the pub in Hogsmeade and get drunk, possibly lamenting the lack of a life partner as an excuse. Then he would be too drunk to apparate back to Hogwarts, so he would have to walk, making him the perfect target for a certain animagus . . .

Snape was halfway through brewing the potion that he'd need in order to drink but not get drunk that night, when one Medi-witch and two redheaded pre-teens burst into his lab. Instantly, he knew it was Harry, and he was pretty sure what it would be to raise the twins levels of panic to where they were.

"He was taken!" Fred gasped. "I think it was Sirius Black!"

"He was taken less than five minutes ago," the Medi-witch gasped, obviously as out of breath as the boys. "I apparated us straight here, and we ran to your quarters."

"Was it Sirius Black?" he asked.

"He was tall and gaunt, with shaggy clothes and long, dark, shaggy hair," she replied. "I was talking tae the lads at the time, and he slipped behind them very careful-like, and then suddenly grabbed Harry and was away."

"Where were you?" Snape's voice was icy. "You can't apparate from Hogwarts."

"We convinced him to go to Hogsmeade with us," George admitted. "We were there."

"And Sirius ripped this off of him," Fred said, handing Snape the alarm necklace that Harry always wore.

Putting the necklace in the pocket of his robe, Snape contained his fury and his anxiety behind stiff occlumency shields. He knew he needed to be cool and figure out where they might be. Where would Sirius go?

Walking over to the fire, he fire-called McGonagall and Dumbledore, telling them to come to his office immediately. Soon they were there, all panicking at the news.

"He won't hurt the lad," McGonagall told Severus. "He probably thinks he's rescuing him."

"Where would he take him?" Snape demanded. "Where would he go?"

Even as Snape asked, something niggled his mind. Closing his eyes and giving into that niggle, he focused on it in his mind and pursued it. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked around the room. "He's at Grimmauld Place," he announced with certainty.

"How do you know that?" Dumbledore asked him. "Wouldn't that place be too likely for a hideout?"

"Not at all," Snape answered. "It's well protected and well hidden from most people, and he would have a house elf that would take care of him and help get him food. He could also get a wand there, I'm sure that there are Black family wands roaming around. No, it has to be there. My house elf Maisie is Kreacher's daughter, and she's been worried about him, says he is stressed. What else could possibly stress a house elf that lives alone in a moldering ruin more than his undesired master coming home?"

"That makes sense," McGonagall answered. "How do we rescue him?"

"Black is more insane than really wicked," Snape answered. "I think you're right in that he wouldn't really hurt Harry, at least not on purpose. So this has to be done carefully."

"I was there last week," Dumbledore told them. "And Severus was there when Walburga kidnapped poor Harry. The enchantment works that once you've been there you can find it again. So unless Sirius has thought to change the protection charms, we should be able to get in."

"I will go first," Snape decided. "Dumbledore, I'm going to need you as backup, because you can bring McGonagall and even Fiona if backup is needed. But I think that one of us should go first."

"I could go first," Dumbledore pointed out, almost pouting.

"He's my son," Snape snapped back. "And I'm not sure Black will like you any better. I told him you put Harry with me."

"Oh dear."

"Exactly," Snape replied succinctly. "I will go, but if I'm not back with Harry in twenty minutes, then you come, wands drawn. And get Lupin, we will need him. He's visiting a cousin in Surrey, I believe."

"We will," McGonagall nodded. "Be safe, Severus."

He nodded. "I will apparate outside of the house, and then work on getting in. It will likely take me a few minutes, I will send a patronus once I'm in." And with that, he used broomless flight to the gates of the school, and then apparated away.

Snape found that it was relatively easy to breach the perimeter wards, they had recognized him from the last time. He still went stealthily, forcing himself to take the time to not make a mistake. He kept telling himself that Black was crazy, not dangerous; but for some reason that did not comfort him much.

Then he was through, and so he silently sent off his patronus. Grasping his wand firmly, he went to where he could hear the shouting. When he saw that Black had pinned Harry and was yelling that he should beat him, he came very near panic. And then when Harry was begging for Black not to hurt him, and Black insisting on tying him . . .

"Unhand him!" he found himself yelling. "Black, back away from the boy!"

Black answered, and just as Snape's muscles tensed to start casting, they boy interrupted it. He said that he didn't want to be with Snape, that he wanted to live with his other Godfather. Snape blinked in pain, he couldn't believe that Harry had just told him that. His chest tightened, it felt like he couldn't breathe. Then, he heard Harry say something about the closet at the Malfoy's house - and he could suddenly breathe again. This was subterfuge, Harry recognized that him being a Slytherin would help. Then Snape saw what he was trying to do - if Sirius trusted him and really believed that Harry would choose him over Snape, then Harry would have a chance to get away safely. Harry had had enough time with Black to judge that he wasn't in any real danger, and it was safer for him to try and get away than to have a wizard's duel with him in the middle of it.

But did Snape agree? He felt his eyes narrow in concentration and assessment. Was Harry safer going to an unknown location? A very large part of him said no, that he wanted Harry to stay here and for him to fight it out. But Snape was a Slytherin, after all, and he saw the soundness of Harry's plan. Even if it went against all his instincts as a father. He was also feeling no small amount of pride at the fact that Harry was able to think this through and make a plan, and it made him feel a strong inclination to encourage that.

So Snape played the part of the vindictive, mean guardian with no real affection for the boy, and he said the words he knew he would have to say. With a slight nod of respect for how Harry got the alarm back, Snape was nonetheless exactly how Sirius would expect him to be - demanding, cruel, and unfeeling. It broke his heart to say the words, but when he saw the flash of pain in Harry's eyes at hearing the words he felt even worse. He saw the quick tears quickly blinked away, and he promised himself he would make those words up to Harry. Even though they both knew that those words had to be said, he would make it up to him. He would tell the child how much he loved him and how important he was to him every day from now on.

He watched the two of the apparate away, and a sinking fear took hold of his heart. Was he going to be able to follow? Was Harry going to be able to protect himself? Deep down, he realized that he needed to start trusting Harry far more than he ever had before. Even though Harry was just ten, he was a formidable wizard and capable of planning. He would have to trust that the training Harry has done would matter. He cursed himself for not telling Harry more, he had wanted to protect him. The small nuggets of information he had gleaned from eavesdropping were probably now helping him save his own life. And Snape had scolded and smacked him for it, assuming he was a child that should know nothing. He would never make the mistake of keeping Harry in ignorance again.

He apparated back to Hogwarts. Once there, he found the group waiting anxiously, and he smiled to see his friend Lupin there. Lupin knew Black the best, and he was the only one that Black would possibly trust.

"Black has him, he apparated away," Snape told them. "They were at Grimmauld place, and I confronted them. I was trying to be careful because he had Harry in a death grip. Harry understood what was going on, and he played like he wanted to be with Black instead of me. He convinced Black that he wanted his necklace back because Arthur had made it for him, and they apparated away."

"Is Harry alright?" McGonagall asked.

"He seemed to be," Snape confirmed. "Black is becoming unhinged, however."

"That many years in a place like Azkaban can cause harm to anyone," Dumbledore told them. "But for an innocent man that is eaten up by guilt like that as well. He's lucky to have any sanity left."

"Lupin, where would he go?" Snape asked.

"The Shrieking Shack?" Lupin guessed. "We were there plenty in school."

"Good guess," Snape nodded. "Where else?"

"Here, take this," Fiona handed him a potion.

"I don't need a calming draught, woman!" he snapped at her. "I need my wits about me!"

"Yer wits will be sharper if ye can stave off the panic," she told him firmly. "Just a wee dram, it will help ye concentrate."

Deciding she had at least some logic behind her suggestion, he took a small, measured sip of the draught. He felt the potion take the edge off his panic, and he reluctantly realized that the Medi-witch was right. He could think more clearly with the edge off of his panic.

"He was also in the forbidden forest for quite a while," Snape said. "We have to suspect he might know of a cave or a shack as well."

"Do we wait for Harry to call?" McGonagall asked. "That seems foolish."

"No, we don't," Snape confirmed. "We track down everywhere that we think is possible. Stealth will be key."

"And once we identify where they are?" Dumbledore asked. "What's to make it different than last time?"

"I'm hoping Lupin can help with that," Snape said. "I'm sorry Lupin, I should have had you go there; you could have diffused it. I have recently been struck by how much my wanting to play my cards close to my chest has affected my ability to get things like this to work."

"I understand," Lupin answered, nodding. "I should go to the Shrieking Shack first then, I really do think that's where he'll go."

Snape nodded. "I'm coming with you, then."

"You should be invisible," Dumbledore told him. Sirius should think it's just Lupin or he may panic. I have James' invisibility cloak that you may use. Rightfully it's Harry's, so I think using it to rescue him is appropriate."

"Please don't give that little prankster that cloak," Snape rolled his eyes. "You have no idea what he'll get up to."

"What will I do once we're there?" Lupin said.

"You need to talk him into giving up," Dumbledore told Lupin.

"Or at least getting far enough away I can knock him out," Snape ordered.

"Stunning only, Severus," McGonagall reminded him. "He's mentally ill, not evil. He needs care and compassion for his condition."

"Harry is, and always will be my priority," Snape sniffed. "But if I can spare the escaped convict without hurting Harry, I will."

"Then while you two go and search the Shrieking Shack, Minerva and I will contact Hagrid and begin a search of the forbidden forest," Dumbledore told him. "We'll find him, Snape."

"I hope so," Snape said, feeling two hundred years old. "I'm not sure how I could go on if we don't."


	17. Chapter 17 - Kryptonite

_AN: Thank you to t42n24t2 for the image of Kryptonite, it was exactly what I was looking for to use in this chapter. Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!_

* * *

Snape shook his head as he began his preparations to go to the Shrieking Shack with Lupin. He remembered from his childhood the character of Superman, and how Kryptonite turned him weak and vulnerable. That was what loving Harry felt like to him. He had been made of steel before he met Harry; he was tough. Lily's death had frozen all soft parts of him until he was untouchable. He was a good spy because he didn't care really if he were to die - and that made him brave. But now, he realized, having something to lose was making his brain less sharp, his reactions less brave. Severus Snape of two years ago would have blasted both Harry and Sirius, and to hell if Harry got hurt. This time, when faced with the choice, he couldn't risk hurting Harry, or having Sirius turn his wand on the boy. Before, he would never give anybody any information that wasn't strictly necessary; now he was contemplating treating Harry as somewhat of a partner. What was happening to him?

"Okay, so I we go in together, and you have my arm," Lupin told him, seemingly more for his own benefit. "I should do the apparition because I've been there so many more times than you have. You're under the cloak, and I either stun Sirius or talk him into coming quietly."

"Do you need a calming draught?" the Medi-witch asked him.

"I think I'm okay without," Lupin smiled at her. "But thank you."

"You didn't _ask_ me," Snape glared at her. "You just forced me to take it."

"If you think you can honestly be forced into something like that, then you surely have no idea how intimidating you can be," she answered him pertly. "And I asked Remus because he seemed capable of making an informed decision, you were not."

Snape shot another glare at the Medi-witch, and she seemed non-plussed by his answer and his glare. She gave a small smile, and went over to the twins, who still watched in fascination as someone could speak like that to their formidable potions master.

Lupin coughed, which Snape suspected might be trying to cover a nervous laugh or a snort, and he glared at him too. "We will leave when Dumbledore gets back with the cloak," he intoned, trying to remaster some of his dungeon bat presence. Seriously, first he is soft to Harry and then a silly Medi-witch thinks she can order him around. He needed to harden up, to think like a spy. There was enough time for frivolity later.

Dumbledore brought the cloak, and Snape tried it on. He found wrapping the item that had been the means of so many vicious pranks in his childhood to make him shudder. But touching the fabric surprised him - it was of astonishing quality. Most invisible cloaks were imperfect, especially as years past. They would fray or have spots of visibility, but this one was perfect and seamless. And the fabric was such a light, soft fabric too, it felt like wearing nothing. He found the cloak immediately adjust to fit him, and he adjusted himself at not being able to see his body. He had seen cloaks of invisibility before, but never one like this.

"What is this?" he asked Dumbledore.

"It was James' cloak," Dumbledore explained. "I've been keeping it until Harry was old enough."

With a glare, Snape said, "I assume you mean of age. As in 17."

"We'll talk later," Dumbledore smirked.

With a glare, Snape covered himself completely with the cloak, and then he took Lupin's arm.

"Ready?" Lupin asked, his wand drawn in readiness.

"Proceed," Snape answered, drawing his wand.

And in a snap, they were gone.

* * *

Harry didn't recognize where Sirius had taken him, but he fell on the floor as the wave of nausea overtook him. He retched, but nothing came out of his empty stomach.

"Sorry about that," Sirius told him, mildly concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Sidelong apparition does that," Harry answered, wiping his mouth. "Where are we?"

"A safe place," Sirius answered. "At least for now. Less comfortable than my home, however."

Harry coughed at the dust and cobwebs in the air, and looked around in consternation. He was in an abandoned building, that much was clear. The floors and broken furniture were covered with a layer of dust, showing that nobody had been in here for a long time.

"Are we going to live here?" Harry asked, concerned.

"We're hiding out," Sirius told him. "It will be exciting, like in those adventure books. We shall live by our wits."

"I'm not sure I have enough wits for that," Harry answered.

"Sure you do," Sirius laughed in a decidedly forced way. "Why your father and I - and Lupin - well, we could survive anywhere."

"I'm ten," Harry repeated, and let tears form in his eyes. "I'm scared."

Harry hadn't meant to be that honest with Sirius, and the tears were not an act. He had wanted to be the tough spy that he knew his dad was, but he was finding himself losing the will to do so. He looked around this dusty, forgotten room and all he could think about was that he couldn't wait until it was bedtime and he could pull the alarm. To do so now would alert Sirius, so he knew he would have to wait.

"Don't be scared, pup," he told him. Then, Sirius' face seemed to crumble, and he had tears coming down his face as well. "I messed this all up," he confessed to Harry, his head bent. "I wanted to keep you safe, to help you grow up. Like the Godfather I was supposed to be. I hoped that if I could make it right with you, I could make it right with James."

"James doesn't blame you," Harry told him quietly. "He knows that you were trying to protect them."

"I talked them into it!" Sirius told Harry, nearly wailing. "They would never have done it if it wasn't for me! Peter was a rat, all along."

"It wasn't you, mate," Harry told him, thinking of how Ron would have comforted him. Ron always had a way of lending perspective. "It was the Dark Lord, not you. You would have given your life for them."

"In a second!" Sirius agreed. "With no hesitation!"

"Then it wasn't you," Harry insisted. "Look, the Dark Lord is just really good at what he does. He wanted to kill me, and so he was able to get to me eventually. You tried your best, but sometimes the bad guy wins."

"You sound too old to be ten."

"Maybe I am," Harry told him. "I just know that those superhero movies aren't usually true. Look at me, I'm supposed to be something like that, some sort of saviour to the wizarding world. But instead I grew up as a whipping boy to my horrible relatives. My mom gave her life to protect me, and I end up nearly killed by your mother when she kidnapped me."

"My mother kidnapped you?" Sirius answered blankly.

"She did," Harry answered. "She held me responsible for what happened to you and decided to kill me for revenge. She had placed her house elf with Snape as a spy years ago, and when she realized I was there she seized her opportunity."

"Treadle was put with Snape?" Sirius whistled. "Wow."

"He was a right miserable old dork," Harry told him. "He starved me and beat me, and stole my homework so Snape would punish me."

"He was horrible when I was a child too," Sirius agreed. "But he shouldn't be allowed to beat a human, what happened?"

"For his involvement in that and in my kidnapping he was executed," Harry told him, and then his face fell. "I'm afraid your mother may have died from being hit with stunning spells during my rescue."

"That old bag!" Sirius exclaimed. "She deserved it for trying to kill you! Who rescued you?"

"Dumbledore, McGonagall, and of course my guardian Snape."

"Well, he was always good with a wand, for all he was a greasy git," Sirius told him. "I'm glad they saved you, but I'm sorry he's your guardian."

"It's not all bad," Harry admitted. "And, to be honest, I sort of rescued him on that occasion."

"What?"

"She had him in a body bind, and I took his wand and stunned her," Harry told Sirius. "I couldn't believe I'd done it, but I guess I did."

"Well done!" Sirius laughed. "Bet that surprised the hag. But you hadn't started Hogwarts yet, how did you know how to do it?"

"Snape taught me," Harry admitted. "When he realized that someone was trying to kill me, he said he wanted me to know something about how to use a wand. I guess it worked."

"It sounds like he was sometimes decent to you," Sirius snorted.

"He was," Harry answered in a small voice, tears threatening again. "I don't understand, Sirius, but how are we to live? It feels like time for dinner, and where are we to sleep?"

Sirius looked around, and was beginning to wonder that for himself. Food in prison was tasteless and never enough, but it had at least come on a regular basis. In Grimmauld place it was the same, Kreacher kept him fed. How was he to do it here?

Just then, a crack of apparition sounded, and Sirius grabbed his wand in defense. Harry leapt away with Sirius trying to grab him, and there was a brief struggle before Harry found himself once again grasped firmly in Sirius' grip. They turned to face the intruder, and Sirius gasped when he recognized Lupin.

"Moony?" he asked, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Padfoot," Lupin replied with a gentle smile but his wand still out. "I am so glad to see you alive."

"And kicking," Sirius replied, smiling but not letting Harry go. "What brings you here."

"I came to fetch James' son," Lupin told him. "And to see if I could be of help to an old friend."

"Well, if you could conjure us up some dinner that would be helpful," Sirius laughed in that unhinged way. "But other than that, Harry and I are fine here. Aren't we?" He gave Harry a little shake showing he was supposed to answer.

"I'm okay, Professor Lupin," Harry replied. "I'm not hurt."

"Good, Harry, I'm happy to hear that," Lupin answered him. "Sirius, is it okay if Harry comes over to me now?"

"No, I like him here, old friend," Sirius told him. "How do I know you're not in league with _Him_ by now?"

"Well, I'd probably be better dressed," Lupin smirked. "I'm a teacher at Hogwarts, Sirius. I'm the same Moony as always."

"It was my fault, Moony," Sirius' voice cracked. "I did it."

"I know what you did," Lupin told him softly. "And I don't think it was your fault. In fact, I have been working with other people to try and prove your innocence."

"I'm not innocent," Sirius answered with a high, deranged giggle. "I have blood on my hands."

"With your help we can hopefully keep you out of Azkaban," Lupin told him. "But I need your help. We can do this."

"Why would you want to help me?" he croaked. "I am not any good to anyone. Not to James, not to Lily."

Sirius then began shaking, and Harry felt his muscles twitch and shake. He could feel Sirius's heart race against his skin, and his breathing got fast and out of control. He began to wheeze as he breathed, and he was shaking so bad he couldn't hold onto Harry. Harry seized the opportunity, and was able to break Sirius' hold on him and dive away. At that same second a blast of red came from somewhere near Lupin, and Sirius was thrown back against a wall, falling unconscious.

Harry then felt strong, black arms surround him and hold him, and he heard his dad's voice assuring him. He burst into tears at that point, clinging to his dad like he couldn't quite believe that he was real and that the ordeal was over. Harry was never sure later what words were said between them at that moment, but he could clearly remember the feeling of his father's robe against his face and the scent of potions and his father's aftershave filling his nose. He felt safe.


	18. Chapter 18 - Cleaning Up

Sirius woke to an unfamiliar room, but it felt familiar at the same time. It was a small room, sparsely decorated, but with a window where he could see fading sunlight sifting through. He tried to move, but found that he was in a body-bind and likely stuck to the bed. The indignities! Even if this bed was one of the softest things he'd laid on in a while.

"Are you awake?" he heard a soft voice ask. Turning his head and feeling grateful the body bind didn't extend to his head, he saw Harry sitting on a chair beside him.

"I am," he answered. "Where am I?"

"You're in Hogwarts," Harry answered. "In a room just added onto Lupin's quarters."

"Who are 'they'?" he asked thickly. It was good to know your enemies.

"Snape and Lupin are good friends now," Harry told him. "And they will probably be summoning Dumbledore and McGonagall back from the forbidden forest soon too."

"I doubt they would want you in here with me," he grimaced.

"Probably not," Harry answered, cheeky. "But I've already got a hard spanking coming to me, I doubt it will make it much worse."

"Snape's going to abuse you?" he asked, getting angry.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I may have misled you a bit," he admitted. "Snape doesn't abuse me. He smacks me, certainly, but it's usually pretty well deserved."

"He has no right . . ."

"He does," Harry told him firmly. "Snape has adopted me, he is my father now."

Sirius gasped in horror at the thought.

"Listen, Sirius, what would you do if the son you loved disobeyed you directly and lied to you about where he was going to be?" Harry asked. "How about if he did this after you've told him there's an escaped mass murderer who was out to kill him? And where he went to was beyond the wards that you had designed to keep him safe? And the reason he did all this was to have fun with his friends and buy candy?"

"I'd take my belt to him," Sirius answered darkly.

"Well, that's what I did," Harry answered him. "And though I deserve the strap, my dad has promised never to take a strap to me, or a cane for that matter. So I will have a stern spanking with a ruler, I will probably be grounded for a while, but then it will be fine again."

"And you're fine with this?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Of course I'd rather not be spanked," Harry told him as if he were speaking to a three year old. "But I deserve it, and my dad loves me. He took me in when I had nobody, and we've kind of gotten pretty used to each other. He's a good man."

"I can't believe that James' son is being raised by Snivellus!" Sirius protested.

"Let me be clear on this," Harry told him seriously. "Professor Snape is my dad, and nobody is going to interfere with that. He is my dad. I do not have room in my life for another dad, so if that's your purpose, I would warn you that I would have nothing more to do with you. Now, if you want to be an uncle to me like Uncle Remus is, then perhaps we can talk about that once I get over the fact that you kidnapped me and scared me half to death."

"I was trying to rescue you," Sirius told him quietly.

"I know," Harry told him. "And that is the only reason I'm willing to talk about you being my uncle. But you have to promise not to interfere with my dad."

Just then, the door opened and a figure clothed in black swooped in. Harry rose from his chair and looked down a bit chagrined at being caught in trouble again.

"I would have thought that your impending punishment would be enough motivation to have you obey me," he told Harry sternly. "You will now go to our chambers, eat the dinner you will find waiting for you, and then bathe and change into your pajamas. I will be there for our discussion and your punishment after I finish a few things here."

"Yes sir," Harry replied. "I'm sorry for disobeying you."

"Hmmph," Snape answered, and watched the boy leave the room. He hadn't been surprised to find the boy here, but it was time for the boy to be eating his dinner. "What did he have to say to you?" he asked Sirius.

"He told me that if I shaped up I could be an uncle to him," Sirius told the Potions Master. "But to not interfere with him and his _dad_." The last word was spoken with careful sarcasm.

"I am his father," Snape told Sirius, deciding not to rise to the bait. "I have legally adopted him, and he is my heir. I was named as his Godfather as well as you, Black."

"I should have raised him!"

"Of course you should have," Snape snapped back at him. "But you were busy going crazy in Azkaban! Now look, Black, I have no desire to argue with a crazy person. You will stay with Lupin at least until we clear your name, and then we will go from there."

"Are you actually trying to help me?" Sirius asked, astonished.

"I am one of the ones trying to clear your name," Snape replied, annoyed. "And I expect you to cooperate. Now, Lupin is in charge of you for now. For the time being we have decided that you not have your wand, but that you focus on getting healthy and sane. I believe Lupin is running a bath for you now, and then a good meal and a good nights' sleep."

"What if I don't cooperate?"

"Then we throw you back out, to be hunted like an animal until you're caught and most likely kissed by a dementor," Snape answered cruelly. "Is that what you want? Or do you want somewhere comfortable to stay with people who care whether you live or die, and a chance to be a real person again? You decide, but decide quickly while we can still get rid of you without getting arrested ourselves."

"I will stay," Sirius grumbled.

"And until you are sane and stable I'm not going to allow you to have much to do with Harry. He has already seen you as dangerously unhinged and violent, he doesn't need to see any more. So let that be an added incentive to pursue mental health."

"Why do you have Harry?" Sirius asked. "Why did you agree? Is it some sort of twisted revenge plot?"

"Of course not," Snape's eyes flashed. "You probably can't understand this, so I will use small words. I love Harry. I may have taken him at first out of loyalty to Dumbledore, but now I really do love him. He is the most important thing in the world to me."

"And are you using him?" Sirius asked, his voice sneering. "Do you _like_ little boys?"

With that, Snape's eyes grew cold and his whole body stiffened. "Any other wizard I would challenge to a duel for that. But hear me well, you sodding, mangy mutt. If you ever suggest anything like that again they will not find your body. Am I clear?"

Sirius nodded, suddenly feeling afraid of the rage he saw in Snape's face. He realized that he had pushed the man too far.

Snape swooped out of the room, his robes flapping. Sirius waited for a moment, and then Lupin appeared, his face serious. "You have to believe that that man is not our enemy, Padfoot," Lupin told him. "He's done more for James' son, and quite frankly for you and me, than any of our friends have ever done. Do you see Dumbledore or McGonagall raising Harry?"

Sirius looked away, but couldn't admit he was wrong. "He seems like a wanker," Sirius told Lupin. "He's going to spank Harry."

"Harry deserves it," Sirius rolled his eyes. "And Snape will not really hurt him at all beyond a temporary sting on his bottom. And if that keeps him from doing the foolhardy stunts he has become famous for, all the better."

"You approve of Snape as a father?"

"I do," Lupin admitted. "I was skeptical at first as well. But Snape has been very good for him. The home Harry was raised in before Snape got him at age 8 abused him horribly, even though it was Lily's sister. They beat him and neglected him. That family died unexpectedly, and Dumbledore asked Snape to take him because he was named as a Godfather by Lily. I believe they had a rough start, but have figured it out. Snape is actually a very good father, and they are quite fond of each other."

"I can't believe this!"

"I know, it's strange," Lupin answered. "But you have to allow for people to change. We are not in school anymore."

"What's going to happen to me?"

"Well, I would put you as transfigured into a houseplant if you antagonize Snape any more than you already have," Lupin told him sternly. "Merlin, man, I would never have the nerve or the stupidity to say something like that to Snape!"

"Perhaps my mind isn't what it used to be," Sirius replied, smirking a bit through his sadness.

"You will stay here with me until we can clear your name," Lupin told him. "You will focus on getting well. Snape did a medical scan on you and will be preparing potions to help you recover physically."

"I think I might be crazy," Sirius told him sadly.

"Let's see how you are once you're fed properly, had good sleep, and are away from those wretched dementors for a while," Lupin told him soothingly. "Azkaban was designed to make people crazy. It's amazing you are still able to speak."

"Padfoot saved me," he told Lupin. "I spent as much time as I could as a dog. The dementors weren't sure what to do with me."

"Thank Merlin for small mercies," Lupin told him. "Now, I have a bath ready for you. When was the last time you had a proper bath?"

"The day before James and Lily were killed," he answered truthfully. "They don't let you bathe in Azkaban, and I didn't bother while I was hiding out."

"That explains the smell," Lupin smirked. "Come on, you're so weak I'm going to help you. And we're going to burn those clothes."

Sirius eased into the warm, scented water as Lupin banished his old clothes with a wave of his wand. At first it felt awkward to have Lupin helping him get out of his clothes, and then helping him scrub the dirt from his skin and hair, but he realized that he could not have managed on his own, so he accepted the help. Lupin's business-like approach helped a lot as well.

"I think you've turned the water black," Lupin grimaced as he rinsed the last of Sirius' hair out. "I had no idea a person could get that dirty."

Sirius smiled, saying, "I had forgotten how good clean could feel."

"Your skin is damaged," Lupin frowned. "I'm going to put a salve on some of those spots, and then I'm going to loan you some pajamas. We'll have to work on getting you some clothes."

"You aren't a healer," Sirius protested.

"Snape's already ran the diagnostic," Lupin explained. "But I think either Fiona or Poppy are going to come up later. If you want to wait for them, you can."

"No, I'd rather you see me me naked then them," Sirius sighed. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

After smoothing the salve on the myriad of cuts, bruises, and abrasions that covered Sirius' skin, Lupin wasn't so sure about that comment. Sirius's skin stretched over his ribs, and Lupin had thought he'd never seen someone so skinny. And Sirius had such an unhealthy pallor to his skin, Lupin could just tell the man hadn't had a decent meal in ten years, let alone things like fruits and vegetables. Lupin found himself wondering how Sirius had even survived.

Sirius closed his eyes as he felt his sores and cuts feel better for the first time since he could remember. He couldn't believe how good it felt for his skin to be clean, and for his wounds to be tended. His hair didn't itch, his beard was shaved, and his body felt completely warm. After Lupin was done, he helped him into soft, clean pajamas. Sirius felt tears prickle his eyes in gratitude.

"I had some food brought up," Lupin told him. "Do you feel up for eating?"

Sirius smiled, and said, "I feel like I could eat an entire hippogriff."

"Severus said that because you've been so hungry for so long we should start you with broth and bread. If you feel up for more after that I'll get whatever sounds good."

"That sounds great," Sirius told him, though he hoped something more substantial would follow.

Lupin served him a bowl of the broth and a soft roll, and Sirius thought he was in heaven. The broth was salty and rich, and warmed his stomach as it went down. The roll was soft and fresh, and he couldn't remember the last time that he had fresh bread. When he finished the broth and bread he felt full, and realized that food that was more solid would have made him feel sick.

"Why don't you just rest now until the healer comes," Lupin told him. "Or is there anything else I can get for you?"

WIth a full stomach and feeling more comfortable than Sirius had felt in a long time, Sirius found himself wondering at some of the things Harry had told him.

"Does Snape actually do alright by him?" he asked, and both of them knew he meant about Harry.

"He does," Lupin told him softly. "I was skeptical at first too, but let me tell you it's genuine. They are quite attached to each other."

"Is Snape going to beat him for what he did?"

"No," Lupin told him firmly. "He'll wallop him good, though. He'll be sitting by breakfast, you don't have to worry about that."

"I should have taken care of him," Sirius said, tears forming again.

"The should haves will kill you, Padfoot," Lupin told him softly. "Why don't you think about what you can have now. I have loved being his uncle and his teacher. You can have that too."

Sirius blinked, and one of the tears fell. He wanted to take Lupin's advice.


	19. Chapter 19 - Reckoning

Harry had done as his father had told him, he had eaten the baked chicken, green beans and potatoes that had been left out for him ravenously, and then he had bathed and changed into pajamas. Grateful that Snape had ordered him an extra large portion, he sat back with his full stomach. _At least he never deprives me of food,_ Harry thought gratefully as he patted his stomach. _I can take almost anything with a full stomach._

"Have you had enough to eat?" he heard Snape ask him solicitously.

"I have," Harry answered. "Thank you."

"Are you injured or hurt in any way?"

"No, sir," Harry answered respectfully. "I believe I escaped unharmed."

"Are you feeling frightened or unduly upset?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Not about Sirius," Harry replied with a smirk. "I'm a little frightened for my backside."

"As you should be," Snape confirmed with a stern glare. "Whatever possessed you to behave in such a naughty manner?"

"I don't know," Harry answered, looking down.

"Tell me what you did wrong," Snape told him, crossing his arms.

"I snuck to Hogsmeade with Fred and George," Harry confessed. "In that, I left the safety wards that are supposed to protect me, and I went somewhere where i got kidnapped."

"What else?" Snape pressed.

"I lied to you," Harry admitted, quieter. "I told you I was going to fly in order to fool you."

"What else?" Snape pressed.

Harry squirmed. "I'm not sure, sir."

Snape sighed. "You broke my trust, Harry. I thought I could trust you, and you proved to me that that trust is misplaced."

Harry squirmed, not looking up. "Can't you just spank me?" he asked, plaintively.

"I will eventually, don't worry," Snape assured him. "But we are going to talk first. I can't believe that you did something so disobedient. Why did you think this was alright?"

"I thought, well, that maybe it was worth it . . . you know, that I could go with Fred and George . . . and then you'd punish me . . . but that it would be okay. I didn't think."

"Getting punished isn't a payment for what you did," Snape told him. "It's a signal of my displeasure. This isn't you being naughty and disobeying some random authority, you're disobeying me. It's you disrespecting me, and it's you breaking the trust I have in you. This isn't a business transaction, you're not paying for a toy with extra chores. It's at the cost of our relationship."

Harry squirmed again, feeling close to tears. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I hope you are," Snape told him seriously. "If we were not as lucky as the devil today you would have been seriously hurt, maybe killed. When I think of what could have happened to you . . ."

Harry watched his father choke and nearly come to tears, and his heart sank. He felt so guilty for the pain he'd caused his father, for causing that emotion in the man that at one time had seemed heartless.

"You are forgiven," Snape told him gently, seeing the child's remorse. "And I really don't want to punish you; I just want to hug you and assure myself that you're still alive and healthy. I want to talk and to plan with you, but because you have chosen to lie and disobey, I don't have a choice but to be spending the time we could have been spending so many other ways punishing you."

"I won't do it again," Harry whispered, still fighting tears.. "I promise."

Snape looked at him, a flicker of mirth playing across his lips. "I appreciate the sentiment," he told him. "But please don't promise the impossible. I'm sure you will be naughty again at some point."

"I promise never to lie and go to Hogsmeade without permission and get kidnapped by Sirius Black," he replied.

"That's better," Snape smirked. "That sounds doable."

"We did capture Black," Harry told him hopefully. "Maybe a silver lining?"

"Silver lining," Snape agreed. "But I did have plans to capture him without using you as bait."

"Is he going to be okay?" Harry asked. "He seems pretty nuts."

"You will be amazed at what a hot bath, soft bed and good food will do to a man after a few days," Snape told him. "But he's had a lot of damage, Azkaban is almost designed to make people go crazy; it's a truly awful place. He has a lot to overcome, but he is safe now. That counts for a lot. You should know that as well as anybody."

"He scared me," Harry admitted. "But I ended up feeling more sorry for him than anything."

"That's understandable," Snape answered. "I have much I wish to discuss about tonight, but I think it might be better after your spanking so you can concentrate better. Are you ready to accept your punishment now?"

"I am," Harry answered, his stomach flipping from the anticipation. He wished there was something he could say to stop it, but he knew there wasn't.

"You realize you are actually getting a very stern spanking," Snape told him. "This is one of the worst things you've done yet, on par with the dragon egg."

"Yes, sir."

"I have been debating this whole time what to give you, so I decided to give you the choice," Snape told him carefully. "Twenty with a ruler over your pajamas, or ten on bare skin."

Harry blanched a bit at the sentence, but he had expected a hard consequence. Snape had once told him that a spanking without the benefit of trousers was an option if he were naughty enough, and he felt guilty that he had forced the issue. He considered the twenty whacks, but he knew that the pajamas didn't provide that much protection, and twenty would really hurt. Snape had already seen his backside several times, but still the idea of baring it for the ruler made Harry blush. He wished there was another choice.

"I'll take the ten," Harry told him, not looking up. He hoped he wouldn't regret his choice.

Snape nodded, walking over to the couch and sitting down. "Please get the ruler out of my desk, Harry."

Harry nodded, feeling too nervous to speak, and went over to the desk to get the ruler. He hated getting the ruler, but he knew why his father did it. It showed that he was accepting his punishment, and it also showed trust. Trusting Snape to punish him was the most difficult thing to do, and here he was having to trust him again. He pushed down thoughts of the Dursleys, and focused on the fact that he trusted Snape.

Harry walked back to Snape, and handed him the ruler. He winced thinking that was going to be applied to his backside. Snape's hand looked very large and strong as it accepted the ruler from Harry. Harry didn't have to be told, he placed himself on Snape's lap. He felt Snape lower his pajama pants just enough, and he tried to tell himself not to be embarrassed, that it was just his father.

Snape felt touched by the trust the boy showed in him, and he felt his heart go out to the boy as he went to fetch the ruler. His face looked so woebegone and sad, and also so guilty. Snape thought about what Molly had told him as she fetched home the twins. She had said that the twins felt so guilty about luring Harry to Hogsmeade and getting him kidnapped that she was going to have to give them a stern spanking to help them deal with the guilt. He knew she was right, children felt better after "paying" for their misdeeds.

"Why am I spanking you, Harry?" he asked.

"Because I lied, disobeyed, and put myself in danger," Harry answered.

"Do you have a plea for leniency?"

"No," Harry answered. "What you've chosen is just. I'm just scared a little about getting it."

Snape settled the boy over his lap, and with a look of distaste he lowered the lad's pajama bottoms. He felt Harry flinch, and recognized the embarrassment. He had really hoped never to bare the boy's backside, but he could think of nothing else that would impress upon him how serious he was short of getting a strap, and he really didn't want to do that. He let the first swat crack against Harry's bare skin, and grimaced when he saw the pink stripe appear on the pale skin. He knew that he wasn't spanking Harry hard enough to leave a welt or a bruise, but even knowing that the pink mark would soon fade, it still bothered him. Wishing he didn't have to do this, he set about the rest of the spanking.

When the first crack fell, Harry couldn't believe how much it hurt. Bare skin hurt so much more than over trousers! Even though he knew he had endured so much worse from the Dursley's, he still couldn't believe he was going to lay here and accept ten of these smacks. Although, he told himself wryly, it's not like he had much choice. Snape tightened his grip around his waist as if to communicate that, and Harry accepted it.

The ruler continued to be applied to Harry's backside, and soon he was sobbing openly and squirming. With two hard smacks to his upper thighs, Snape ended the spanking. He levitated the ruler back to his desk and replaced Harry's pajama bottoms with a careful movement. Patting Harry's back gently as his sobbing ceased, he spoke calming words to the boy. When he had calmed down a bit, Snape lifted him into his lap, careful of his sore bottom, and just held him.

"That hurt," Harry told him as soon as he was able to speak.

"It was supposed to hurt," Snape answered him firmly. "I am quite upset that you put yourself in such danger."

"I'm really sorry," Harry told him.

"I know," Snape told him, gentler this time. "And you're already forgiven. You don't have to feel guilty any more."

"Thank you, dad," Harry sniffed, snuggling closer. "I know I hurt your trust in me, but I promise I will make it better."

"I know, son," Snape answered him, holding him close. "I know."

They sat there for a while, Harry curled up in Snape's lap, listening to the man's heart beat and letting his tears subside and his breathing normalize. They both enjoyed that time together, to silently reconnect after the frightening ordeal. Snape wished that he could always have Harry this close, that he could always hold and protect him. He sighed, though, knowing that he also had to apologize to the boy.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry, Harry, for not trusting you enough either," Snape told him carefully. "What you overheard McGonagall say helped you when you did meet with Sirius, and it should have come from me. I have spent so many years holding information so close to my chest, that it is very difficult for me to learn to share what I need to share. I also forbid you from being able to speak to your friends about what you heard, and that deprived you of needed help. I have seen the results of my folly, and I will endeavor to correct it."

"You're apologizing to me?" Harry asked, unbelieving.

"Yes," Snape told him. "For too long I have seen you as a young child, just there for protection and not really thinking about engaging you. But you showed yourself highly intelligent and able to think on your feet in every situation we've been in. I was so proud of you in how you dealt with Sirius, trying to gain his trust in order to safely slip away. And getting the necklace back from me was inspired."

"It was?" Harry asked. "I was just trying to think of what you'd do in that situation."

"Well, it was brilliant," Snape answered. "You couldn't have done better. You should be very proud of yourself."

Harry warmed with the praise, hardly believing that Snape could reprimand him and praise him so thoroughly and at the same time. He wasn't used to hearing praise like this, and he squirmed with feeling. It was easier to accept censure, but he tried to accept the praise that Snape had for him as well.

"But I am also serious that the lying stops now," Snape told him. "If you want me to treat you as a partner, I need to be able to trust you. I will likely never give you a spanking worse than the one you just got, but if you want to conspire with me, I need to be able to trust you."

"You can trust me," Harry told him quietly. "I'm not going to lie to you anymore. I promise."

With a nod, Snape accepted the promise. "As part of your punishment for going to Hogsmeade, you will also be grounded for the next two weeks until Christmas break. That means you will either be in class or you will be down here with me. No socializing with the Weasley twins except under my watchful eye, and no extra flying." Snape reflected that this punishment was also to soothe his own nerves, he wasn't going to rest easy with Harry out of his eyesight at least until after Christmas.

Harry nodded, accepting this. He had expected Snape to take his broom, and he was grateful that wasn't the case. "Thanks for not taking my broom," he told Snape quietly.

"You're welcome," Snape answered. "But it was a near thing. Next time you lie to me you lose your broom."

Harry nodded, that was fair.

"Now, as I see it, the next project is proving Black innocent," Snape told Harry. "We will work on that over Christmas as well. And I think in order to do that we need to find Peter Pettigrew."

Harry nodded, thinking about what Snape was saying. "I need to be honest about a project I'm working on as well," he confessed. "I'm trying to free Dobby from the Malfoys. Maybe you can help me too."

Snape's eyes glinted at shared conspiracies. He looked at the small boy in front of him fondly, and said, "Let's make some plans, Harry."


	20. Chapter 20 - The Firewhiskey Blues

_AN: Shout out to RUgoing2writethat for encouraging me to keep the joke alive. :)_

Snape poured himself a firewhiskey, and decided against a calming draught. He had already had a partial dose that day, and didn't want to use it unless he had to. No, everything was calm and being able to hold the boy like that and then to rub his back as he went to sleep was enough calming for him. Now, just a firewhiskey to relax him a bit before bed, and he should be fine.

Just as Snape went to take a drink, there was a sharp rap at his door, nearly causing him to spill it. Who could it be at this hour?"

"It's me, Fiona," a voice drifted through the heavy door. "I wanted to consult with you about Sirius."

Grumbling about interfering medi-witches, Snape flicked his wand and the door opened to reveal the busybody. Snape sat down, inviting her to as well. "Firewhiskey?" he asked her recklessly.

"No thank you," she replied. "I'm still on duty."

"It's just Sirius Black," Snape sneered, but motioned her to the couch.

"I have given Snape the recommended potions," she told him. "The Skele-grow for the broken bones, but he has had so many bones that have not healed properly, I am worried we might need stronger measures."

"Well, we can scan him tomorrow and if there's still problems then we'll work on that," Snape sighed. "Anything else?"

"Well, you know about the severe malnutrition and other smaller problems," she told him. "But I'm most concerned about his mind."

"I agree that is a concern," Snape told her. "There are some potions that help with depression and anxiety that we can try, if needed. I think we should give him a week of good meals, good sleep and good hygiene and assess then."

"You know more about this than I do," she deferred.

Snape looked at her sharply, deferring to anybody, particularly him, did not seem to be her usual tactic. Why wasn't she her usual harpy self?

"It is so sweet to see you with Harry," she told him. "Ye are so good with him. But becoming a father so suddenly, without even the benefit o' a wife, must have been a bit o' a shock tae ye."

"It was," Snape admitted. "I was so long in my self-centered life, having someone else enter it shook it up quite a bit. I'm still figuring out how to do it."

"Seeing you with Harry makes me see you as a different man, Severus Snape."

"It does?" he asked stupidly. What was the woman getting at?

"It does," she answered firmly. "Before you always seemed so cold, so . . . alone. Now you seem the type of man that can . . . attach."

"Even the most cold-hearted person could attach to that boy," Snape gruffly answered her. "He's, well, he's an impressive child."

"His aunt and uncle didn't."

"They were criminals," Snape glowered. "And they should be thankful to die in a car accident instead of incurring my wrath."

"Exactly," she answered, smiling, but not letting him know what was behind the smile. "I think you have been very good for him, but I think he has been good for you as well."

"Perhaps," Snape replied, sipping his firewhiskey.

"I should bring ye some scotch next time," she told him. "It tastes much better than tha' swill."

"One doesn't drink firewhiskey for the taste," Snape told her. "But for the effects. But I do not believe I've had the pleasure of drinking scotch."

"I'll bring ye some tomorrow," she replied. "It's from a still close to where I grew up."

"And where was that, Madame MacKenzie?" he asked, the firewhiskey making him feel expansive.

"A wee village outside of Inverness," she told him. "My father was the local parson."

"Was he a wizard?" Snape asked, surprised. Wizards were sometimes men of the cloth, but it was rare.

"No, m' mam was a witch. But he kent it, and did no mind."

"Was he angry when you went to Hogwarts?"

"Not a' all," she smiled. "But it probably helped that me oldest brother wa' already in his first year at seminary."

"That probably did help," Snape nodded. "You are the youngest, then?"

"One wee laddie younger," she smiled. "But I had three older. We always had a good time."

"I often wonder what it would have been like to have a brother or sister," Snape admitted. "I'm a little sad that Harry doesn't have one either."

"Ye're still a young man," she told him. "Well, young enough. Wha' makes ye think ye would no marry?"

"I've never seriously considered it," Snape answered, sipping again. "I do not have much to offer a wife, my life is in constant danger and my temperament would not suit most women."

"I think you sell yourself short, professor."

"Perhaps," he answered. "But now I'm an ill-tempered bachelor in constant danger that also has a ten year old son. Still not a great recommendation."

"And you're also intelligent, mature, cultured, and a loving father," she answered him.

Snape found himself growing hot, and decided that the firewhiskey must have affected him more than he had thought it would.

"Thank you for your report, Madame," he told her. "I will visit our patient tomorrow morning."

"You may call me Fiona," she told him. "We are colleagues."

"I don't call people by their first names," he smirked at her. "Particularly women. Until tomorrow, Madame."

"Professor," she nodded her head, recognizing the dismissal.

The next day, Severus gathered up several potions he would likely need and headed over to Lupin's quarters. He thought about the visit from Madame MacKenzie last night, and felt confused. Did that mean that she liked him? He'd never dealt with this before, he couldn't ever remember a woman liking him before. He had worked pretty hard on his prickly exterior, which was sure to frighten anyone respectable off.

When he entered Lupin's quarters, he felt somewhat relieved - he knew what he was doing, and he didn't have to think of that annoying woman anymore. He could just concentrate on the man that he hated but that he was charged with trying to save. When did his life get this complicated?

"How are you feeling?" he asked the former marauder.

"Better," he answered. "I've worked my way up to eggs and toast for breakfast."

"Did it stay down?" he asked.

"Yes," he answered. "And they tasted heavenly."

"How was the Skele-grow last night?" he asked. "Some people experience some discomfort with it."

"It bloody hurt!" Sirius answered. "But my ribs feel better, now."

"And the bruises and marks are fading?"

"They're better," he admitted. "Lupin re-applied the salve this morning."

"Excellent," Snape told him. "I will run another scan to see where the problem lay," he told him. "Lay down and hold still."

Snape passed his wand slowly over every part of Sirius' body, and then tapped a parchment on the bedside. Words splashed onto the parchment, and Snape looked it over critically.

"Madame MacKenzie was worried about older breaks that hadn't healed well," Snape told him. "But from this scan they don't seem to be too much of a problem. You are still dangerously malnourished, and I brought up a large bottle of triple strength nutrient potion for you, you will be taking it every morning for at least a month. You have several dangerous vitamin deficiencies, as well as just lacking in calories overall."

"Anything else?"

"It looks like the shampoo Lupin used rid you of the lice and other vermin," Snape told him. "And your skin lesions seem to be healing. Overall, I expect you to make a full recovery."

"Will I be fit for the dementor's kiss?" he asked sarcastically.

"Which brings me to the next order of business, and we should probably have Lupin here for this. Lupin? Come in now."

"Is everything alright?" Lupin asked, concerned.

"Our patient is in much better health, probably mostly due to your care," Snape told him. "I have a very strong nutrient potion, he needs to drink a shot of it every morning for a month. It has a measuring cap on top of it. The salve you've applied has been doing it's job, and for the rest I'm afraid it's mostly going to be good food and time."

"When can I eat real food?" Sirius asked.

"Keep with another soft foods for lunch, maybe a cream soup and soft bread. If that goes well, then maybe baked chicken for dinner. Tomorrow dinner we can talk about red meat."

Sirius nodded, thinking how good a nice steak sounded. He also didn't want to throw it up, so he knew he should listen to the greasy git.

"How long should I apply the salve?" Lupin asked.

"Until everything's gone," Snape told him. "It can help with scarring for small scars, so keep applying for that. Otherwise, just high calorie and nutritious food, and lots of sleep."

"We can do that," Lupin nodded.

"Fiona will also be by later to see if she has any more recommendations," Snape told him. "My expertise is in really in potions, though I've had a lot of medical training as well as part of my mastery. But she really is the expert on the medical side."

Lupin nodded. "We appreciate your help, Severus."

Sirius looked from Lupin to Snape and grinned wickedly. "So that's why you trust him so much, Moony," he quipped. "How long have you two been together?"

"We are not together!" Snape thundered. "Why do people keep saying that?"

"Well, nobody's ever seen you with a woman," Lupin said, smirking. "Nor me either. We're friends, one of the few for either of us. I suppose speculations should be expected."

Snape glowered at the both of them. "I like women," he snarled. "If it's even anybody's business! And even if I did like men, I would appreciate my own privacy about my personal life."

"Hit a nerve?" Sirius smirked. "So you like women, do you? That Fiona is not too bad to look at. I like them plump and sassy."

"Madame MacKenzie is your health care provider, you should not be talking about her like that!"

"Enough," Lupin told both of them. "Severus, this isn't good for Sirius, he's too weak. You will just have to ignore him being obnoxious."

"I do know a good stinging curse if he has the need to speculate on anything else in my private life," Snape threatened.

"He will behave," Lupin promised, shooting a glare at Sirius. "And he is grateful for the potion-brewing you have done on his behalf."

"Of course I am," Sirius parroted back, acting like a good child.

"He should be," Snape glared again. "And we need to talk about our plans to clear Sirius. We are going to start by sorting and determining which memories are the most helpful, and make them accessible by pensieve. We need Sirius to write a statement saying everything that he knows, and everything he knows about Peter Pettigrew."

"WIll that be enough?" Lupin asked.

"No, I don't believe so," Snape answered. "Memories can be tampered with, and Black does not have a good enough reputation, even if he was interviewed under veritaserum I'm not sure it would be enough. And in order to have him interviewed under veritaserum we would have to have him give up, and I don't trust the ministry not to just have him kissed, do you?"

"What do we need, then?" Lupin asked.

"Corroborating evidence," Snape answered. "In short, what we need is Peter. We need to find him alive, and then get his memories. That should be enough."

"But we have no idea where he is," Lupin pondered. "Unless you have an idea?"

"We must discuss it," Snape told him. "You two know him far better than I. Let's talk about everything you know about Peter as well. We need a good plan, not just to go off willy-nilly like some crazed Gryffindors."

They both looked a bit disgruntled, but agreed.


	21. Chapter 21 - Revelations

_AN: I just wanted to say that Fiona is really just an expository character, I wanted someone that stirred Snape up a bit more than the others in his life. She's able to ask him questions that others don't. She will not be a serious object of dating, at least not in this story (maybe a casual date later on, but nothing serious). But I do think having a female friend (other than McGonagall) is good for Snape and will warm up some of his frozen parts._

* * *

Fiona did return the next night with a nice but unpretentious bottle of Scotch, and before Snape could wonder if this was a weird set up they'd both had a few drinks each and were discussing Christmases of their pasts.

"Mi da' always thought Christmas should be a somber occasion," Fiona explained. "He did no want us tae ken that he put up wi' such truck. But then one Christmas Hamish and I snuck out o' our rooms tae see if we could catch Father Christmas as he brought our gifts. And what we caught was our da', putting together a bicycle for our brother Charlie. We never believed he wa' that stern after that."

"Were you sad to find out there was no Father Christmas?" Snape asked, pouring her another serving of the fragrant, amber liquid.

"No," she laughed. "Because it meant that m' da was no so mean. Ye ken? He pretended tae be stern and dour b'cause that's what was expected of a Presbyterian minister in a wee village like that. But tae see the light in his eyes as he put together the bicycle that Charlie had been dreamin' o' for an age, well, I saw a new him that night."

"I see you are not easily discouraged by a dour countenance," Snape told her, nearly smiling. How many of these had he drank?

"Not one bit," she laughed. "So yer turn, which was yer favorite Christmas as a child?"

"When I was eleven," Snape answered, without hesitation. "It was the first Christmas I spent at Hogwarts."

A flash of compassion crossed her face, and she asked quietly, "That bad at home, then?"

"It was," he answered. "My parents . . . had their own problems. I was mostly left alone, and when my father went on a drunken tear I was the object of his wrath. I had never been so happy to go anywhere then when I found I could go to Hogwarts. And my first Christmas here was the first time I felt what it must be like to celebrate."

"It sounds like such a lonely childhood," Fiona told him, patting his hand in sympathy. "But you also had a friend? Lily?"

"Yes, Harry's mother," Snape told her. "From the first moment I met her, she was like magic, like air to me. Just her gentle presence in a world of such hard things - she was truly amazing. She gave me my first Christmas gift."

"What was it?"

"It was a picture her dad had taken of the two of us in the park," he told her, remembering. "She had glued seashells on the frame. It was my most precious possession until my father found it."

"She sounds like she was an amazing lass," Fiona told him. "It's hard tae lose someone so dear t' ye."

"Harder than you could imagine," Snape answered her.

"I've had a bit o' heartbreak as well," she told him. "I lost my brother Charlie in the war. They killed him in front o' Hamish, because Hamish was working for the ministry and was exposing dark wizards in the ministry. So they killed Charlie as a warning. Hamish was never the same again."

"I'm sorry," Snape told her. "I think that war scarred us all."

"It did," she confirmed, taking a drink. "It did. But we won, aye?"

"Some victory," Snape shrugged.

"You're one o' the ones that do no believe him gone, aye?" she asked. "I see why ye might."

"I think that the victory was too easy," Snape told her carefully. "The biggest menace of our time struck down because he tried to kill a child? It makes no sense."

"Then where do ye think he's been these past years?" she asked. "Do ye have no idea?"

Snape's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you a spy, Miss MacKenzie?" he asked her coldly.

"Me?" she asked in surprise. "Why would you say that?"

"It is an excellent ploy," he sneered. "A pretty, innocent face with a bottle of whiskey and soft words. All designed to see what I know."

"Pretty face?" she echoed, half flattered have half furious.

"Who employs you?" he demanded. "Are you trying to find out my allegiance or if I know anything?"

"How dare you accuse me?" she demanded.

"Of course! How foolish could I be?" Snape sneered. "Why would a woman like you want to actually spend time with me if she was not trying to get something out of me?"

"How could you think that?" she asked. "Are you seriously accusing me of being some sort of master spy?

"A master spy wouldn't get caught," he snapped at her. "You are obviously an incompetent spy."

"I am not a spy!" she yelled at him, stomping her foot at him. "I am leaving!"

Snape watched her stomp out of his room, and he felt an unaccustomed pang of grief in his stomach as she went. Surely he wasn't regretting suspecting her? Why else would she have wheedled her way into his quarters and be asking him all of these questions? Surely he had just saved himself from either a horrible busybody or a vicious spy. Either way, he did not need to have her in his life at all.

The next morning, Snape took a potion to banish the aftereffects of his drinking. He thought back to what he'd yelled at Miss MacKenzie yesterday, and groaned. What had he done? In the cold, sober light of morning he realized that his accusations were ridiculous, and likely an embarrassing outplaying of his own insecurity and anxiety at finding himself talking with a woman. If he could blush, he would. Groaning, he decided that he would just forget last night ever happened. Fiona should know better than to be friendly with the likes of him, and if she didn't then, she would now.

* * *

The two weeks before Christmas passed fairly quietly. Snape visited Sirius every day to check on his progress and to make sure he took the potions, but Snape's path didn't cross with the Medi-witch's on purpose. Sirius grew steadily better and stronger, and his skin lost the prison pallor. Snape still worried about his mind, but his thoughts steadily became more coherent and he seemed to be healing in that way at all.

The first day back to Spinner's End Harry could hardly believe they were back. It had been decided that Sirius and Remus would be safest with Harry and Snape for Christmas, because at Hogwarts it would be too quiet and they would be easier to discover. Snape had rolled his eyes at the suggestion of house guests, but for the most part he really did enjoy Lupin's company, and it would be easier to keep track of Black's progress at his house. As long as that prat stayed out of his way.

Harry, of course, was overjoyed to have house guests. Even though he'd had limited time with Sirius in the past few weeks, he thought he would be fun to have as well. Harry couldn't help but feel that Sirius was more like Fred and George then he was like a real grown-up.

That first night, after they'd eaten a hearty meal of roast chicken, they decided to have their first planning meeting with the four of them. They had talked here and there, but the four of them had never all sat down before, and Harry had never been included before.

"So are you sure?" Lupin asked, with a glance to Harry.

"I'm sure," Snape nodded. "We've been treating him like a baby for too long. Harry can help."

"The task is impossible!" Sirius complained. "What plan could we possibly make to find a rat missing a toe?"

"Is Peter Pettigrew missing a toe?" Harry asked, surprised.

"He would be missing a toe because the real Peter, in human form, cut off a finger to fake his own death," Snape explained.

"Percy's rat Scabbers is missing a toe," Harry said, smiling. "Do you think Percy has Peter?"

"How long has Percy had that rat?" Snape asked, forcing his voice to remain calm.

Harry shrugged. "I think it's been for a while, and Percy would rather have an owl or something. He said that he'd found the rat, and his family let him keep it because he was free."

"Does he have him right now?" Lupin asked.

"Actually, I think Scabbers is missing," Harry answered. "Ron was saying something about it a few weeks ago. I don't know if he ever found him."

Snape's eyes flashed as he looked at Lupin - this was the best lead they'd had all along. But he wanted to remain calm and not scare Harry.

"But if Percy had Peter, why wasn't I able to smell him?" Lupin asked skeptically. "I've been to their house several times, not to mention being at Hogwarts."

"Is there a spell that can block scents?" Snape asked. "He still is a wizard and can still cast charms."

"There is a spell," Sirius confirmed. "I've used it. It's sort of like an invisibility cloak but for scents."

"It could just be a coincidence," Snape told them. "But one we must follow up. And if he went missing a few weeks ago, it was right around the time that Black showed up. Could he have disappeared just to avoid running into him?"

"There's one way to find out," Lupin said grimly. "Do you have a Pensieve here, Severus?"

"I do," he replied, moving to get it.

"What good will that do?" Sirius asked. "Shouldn't we be storming over to the Weasley's?"

"I have seen Peter as a rat numerous times," Lupin explained. "I will share one of those with the Pensieve, and then Harry can tell us if he looks like Scabbers."

Harry didn't understand what was going on, but watched in fascination as his dad put down what looked like a large stone bowl. Lupin tapped his head and extracted something silvery-white from his temple with his wand, and then mixed the substance into the stone bowl. Harry watched, awestruck, as the silvery substance swirled around in the bowl.

Harry felt his dad touch his shoulder and said, "I will go in with you. All we have to do is put our face in the bowl, and we will see Lupin's memory. Here, hold my hand and we will do it together."

Harry took his dad's hand, feeling a mix of anticipation and nervousness. In just a flash he felt gratefulness at how his father would just touch him like this to make him feel safer. He really did have the best dad ever.

They put their faces in the bowl, and Harry felt himself being sucked into the memory. He saw a large black dog that looked younger than Padfoot, a large stag with antlers, a small rat on the back of the dog, and what looked like a large human-like wolf.

Snape flinched at the sight of the werewolf and instinctively put Harry behind him. "It can't hurt you, it's only a memory," Snape told him, as much to himself as to Harry. "Can you see the rat?"

Harry blinked, trying to focus. "Let me get closer," he told his dad. Snape led him closer to the animals, who were just resting in the moonlight. They didn't seem to notice Harry and Snape, and Harry went even closer.

"Yes, this is Scabbers," Harry confirmed. "He has a little more hair than he does now, but that's Scabbers."

Taking his shoulder, Snape backed out of the memory.

"It's him," Snape told the others.


	22. Chapter 22 - Unselfish

_AN: Shout out to_ _LtsHrIt4ThBoyz_ _for bringing up the idea that Lupin should be able to smell Peter. Thanks!_

* * *

"How can it be?" Lupin asked, stunned. "How could Peter have been living with the Weasley's this whole time?"

"It would be an ideal location," Snape nodded. "They are a wizarding family poor enough to take a risk on adopting an friendly but unknown creature, and their reputation as Order members would be unimpeachable. He could hear news well there, it seems that everything filters through that family at one point or another. And the parents tell their children far too much."

"Let's get him!" Sirius growled, looking very much like an avenging grim.

"Percy doesn't have him," Harry reminded them. "He ran away a few weeks ago. The twins even tried to cheer him up by saying that he was so old he probably just went off to die."

"That doesn't sound cheerful," Lupin remarked.

"It is when you want an owl," Harry replied reasonably. "Scabbers was kind of a boring pet. He just slept a lot and would lose his hair when he got stressed out."

"I'm going to have a discreet fire call to Arthur," Snape told them. "Let's make sure Scabbers is still lost. Then we decide on a plan."

Snape went over to the fire, and kneeling down with a pinch of floo powder, he called for Arthur.

"Does Percy still have his rat?" Snape asked carefully.

"Why?" Arthur asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"Harry is thinking about Christmas gifts," Snape lied smoothly.

"I think so, but come to think of it I haven't seen the scruffy thing. Let me check." In a few moments, Arthur returned. "Apparently he ran off a few weeks before the end of term," Arthur confirmed. "Percy thinks he probably went off to die, you know how some animals do that."

"Thanks, Arthur," Snape answered. "You've been helpful."

He ended the firecall, and they looked at each other. "He's still at Hogwarts," Snape surmised. "But that is a very large castle to search."

"Why did you lie to Mr. Weasley, dad?" Harry asked, surprised. Isn't that what he just got the ruler for a few weeks ago?

"You only promised not to lie to me," his dad answered him carefully. "Harry, there will be times that you may be called upon to lie in the course of a plan or a scheme. But you have to be very careful when you do. I lied to Mr. Weasley because if Scabbers was still there, I didn't want to alert him which may have caused Peter to act in a desperate way. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"You may lie if it is protecting another, or for other unselfish reasons," his father told him. "When you lied about going to Hogsmeade, was that selfish or unselfish?"

"Selfish," Harry answered.

"What about with the dragon egg?"

"Selfish," Harry answered, hanging his head.

"What dragon egg?" Sirius asked, suspicious.

"Shh, I'll tell you later," Lupin replied. "Let Severus finish."

"But you have also promised not to lie to me, selfish or unselfish," Snape replied relentlessly. "And what will be the penalty if you lie to me?"

"You'll take me over your knee," Harry replied, blushing a little.

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other," his father replied. "But I also don't want you thinking like an excessively noble Gryffindor either. Lying is a useful tool on occasion, as long as it is used properly."

"Slytherin ethics," Lupin commented, shaking his head with a smile. "I believe the houses can learn from each other."

"If only we had the map!" Sirius exclaimed, frustrated. "Then we could find Peter in a snap."

"What map?" Harry asked, but had a sickening feeling in his stomach that he knew.

"It's a map we made in school," Lupin explained. "It showed us everywhere in Hogwarts, including secret passages. And it told us where everyone was all the time."

"Was it called the Marauders map?" Harry asked, sick that he was going to have to give up Fred and George.

"How did you know that?" Lupin asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Do you have the map?" Snape asked.

"I don't," he answered miserably. "But I know where it is. But you have to promise that they won't get in trouble, and that you will give it back to them." Harry knew that this was far tpo important to not tell the grown ups, but he also felt honor-bound to not expose the twins more than he had to.

Snape's eyes narrowed, and Harry gulped a little, avoiding eye contact.

"It's the Weasley twins," Snape replied confidently.

"Stay out of my mind!" Harry yelled indignantly.

"I did not use legilimency," Snape answered dryly. "But they make the most sense. Who else would you refer to as 'they' and have a penchant for danger that would rival your own?"

"Please," Harry begged. "Part of working together as partners is that you respect me as well, right? I could have said nothing and you wouldn't have known. Please don't punish the twins just because I wanted to help find Peter."

"He makes a persuasive argument," Lupin smirked. "How did you get it to work, Harry?"

"The twins had the map for a while and were having trouble," Harry explained. "So they asked me to help them. The map insults people that try to get it to work."

Sirius smirked, "That was one of my additions."

"Well, it insulted me, but once it realized that I was James Potter's son it told me how to work it."

"I don't remember adding that," Sirius protested.

"I think it's like the portraits that have a bit of the people in them," Lupin replied. "There's a piece of each of us in the map, and the part that was James recognized Harry."

"I should have known it was you," Harry exclaimed. "So Prongs was my father because of his antlers, Wormtail must be Peter because of the tail, Moony must be Remus because of the werewolf thing, and that leaves SIrius as Padfoot."

"You're right!" Sirius exclaimed. "Smart boy!"

"I think it would be least disruptive for Harry to borrow the map," Lupin announced. "I think the twins have loaned it to him before, am I right?"

Harry squirmed, and answered, "That's how we got into Hogsmeade."

Snape glowered, but didn't comment.

Harry squirmed again, and decided to come completely clean. "And it's how I followed my dad the time I was eavesdropping on him and Professor McGonagall."

Snape calmed himself not to yell, and reminded himself that on both of those occasions Harry had already felt his displeasure rather directly. "I had wondered how that was accomplished," he answered calmly. "I am glad to see you use the tools you have available, Harry. However, you should use more discretion in areas such as obedience and honesty."

"Yes, sir," he answered formally. "I promise that I will."

Snape nodded, mollified. He wanted Harry to do things in a smart way, but he also wanted him safe. Keeping this boy out of things was going to be harder than he had originally thought.

"Why don't we go and visit them tomorrow," Harry suggested. "I'm sure I can get the map from Fred and George. Because I figured out how to use it, they sort of see me as a co-owner of it."

"I'm sure we can wrangle an invitation," Snape smiled back. "And then we go to Hogwarts that night and see if we can find the rat."

"And kill him!" Sirius growled.

"We will not kill him," Snape sighed in answer. "Do you want to be free or not?"

"Of course I want to be free," Sirius answered.

"Then we need Peter," Snape answered. "Veritaserum doesn't work on corpses, does it?"

"A rat can be hard to catch," Lupin mused. "And Hogwarts is large with a lot of hidden cracks and crannies. How are we going to do it?"

"First, the scent spell should be easy to counter now that we know it's there," Snape answered. "And then you two mutts might be helpful in tracking, especially if he's a rat. If he's human, then it's up to a duel."

"Peter will run and hide," Lupin confirmed. "He was always a bit of a coward."

"Then we will need backups," Snape confirmed. "I will do a tracking spell as well should he get away. But the first person that can stun him or put him in a body-bind, do it."

"And we need a cage," Sirius nodded. "If we chase him into a cage, he can't transform back into his human shape."

"Gentlemen, I believe we have a plan," Snape told them. He was used to planning and scheming, he had done it for years as a spy. But this planning with lots of other people involved, well, this was new. Could he trust the others? He decided he could trust Lupin, that man was loyal to a fault. Harry had proven mostly trustworthy as well, and fiercely loyal as well. It was just Black that really rankled, but he supposed he could at least trust the old Marauder to act in his own self-interest. He would have to trust him.

"Let me ask the Weasleys," Lupin smiled. "I have a way with Molly."

Smirking because he knew Lupin was right, Snape then turned to Harry. "I was wondering if you had intended to tell me about that map at some point."

"Well, you did say I didn't have to tell you everything," Harry smirked at him. "You just told me I couldn't lie to you."

"I suppose that's true," Snape grumbled, though he was secretly pleased that the child would stick up for himself enough to remind him of it.

"And I've already been punished," Harry insisted. "So really, it's just that I didn't tell you how I did it. But you knew what I'd gotten up to."

"I suppose," Snape grumbled again, but this time with a hint of a smile on his lips. "And I am very happy that you chose to tell us about the map this time. You didn't have to, and I appreciate that you were willing to sacrifice your secret in the success of our plan."

"The plan is more important," Harry acknowledged. "It's about a man's freedom, even if it's someone you don't like."

"And the fact that you recognize that is good," Snape told him, almost smiling. "WIth that map we stand a much better chance."

"That's what being a partner is, isn't it?" Harry asked.

"It absolutely is," Snape answered. "Now let's see if you can borrow that map without raising suspicions."

"No problem, dad," Harry scoffed. "I'm telling you, it will be easy."

"Why did Peter run, I wonder?" Lupin asked, puzzled. "I mean, how could he know we would find him?"

"Maybe he figured out that I was lurking about," Sirius smiled.

"Let me concentrate for a moment," Snape told them, then closed his eyes. The question had sparked a memory, the faintest of sensations that he had had one night. The night he had caught Harry listening, he had caught him because he could sense him nearby. It was like he always had a very low level of legilimency going all the time, and though he hadn't read Harry's mind that night, he had felt his mind bump against Harry's, and had known who he was. He closed his eyes to concentrate on that night, to remember everything he felt. There, yes, he had felt the presence of another mind that night. Another mind so small it hadn't registered, but it was different than the minds of the vermin that occupied the dark corners and crevices.

"He heard McGonagall and I talking," Snape sighed. "Thinking about it I was able to remember that he was there. He heard that I was trying to prove Black innocent, and he realized that it would soon lead to him."

"So he has a head start on us," Lupin groaned. "Well, at least it's Peter."

"What do you mean by that?" Snape asked.

"He wasn't exactly the brains of our operation," Lupin grinned. "If it's Peter planning, we don't have a lot to worry about."


	23. Chapter 23 - Underestimation

It wasn't easy. Harry had been surprised, but when he'd asked George for the map, George had refused.

"We saw you after last time," Fred shook his head. "You flinched when you sat to breakfast. Nope, we're not being the cause of that,"

"That was because I lied, not because of the map," Harry argued. "I lied, went to Hogsmeade with you, and got kidnapped! Of course I was getting punished for that."

"What exactly did he give you?" George asked skeptically. "Did he use the strap?"

"No, the ruler," Harry answered. "And it was only ten."

"There's more to it than that," Fred insisted. "Unless you're a bit of a pansy?"

"Alright, it was without my trousers," Harry admitted. "And it wasn't really that bad, I'm not sure why I flinched like that."

"We caught it from our mum too," George told Harry. "We promised not to get you in trouble any more."

"So no map," Fred agreed. "And it's not just to save our backsides."

"No, it's not," George agreed. "We felt really bad that you were kidnapped."

"Awful!" Fred continued. "It was our fault. We practically made you."

"I could have said no," Harry insisted. "C'mon, guys, it's not like I'm a baby or something."

"No more trouble for you, ickle little Harry," George laughed.

"What if I swear it's not for getting in trouble?" Harry asked.

"Wizard's oath?" Fred asked, suddenly serious.

"Wizard's oath," Harry nodded. "I solemnly swear that I am up to nothing bad."

The twins smirked, recognizing Harry mocking the passphrase, and then nodded to each other. "You get kidnapped again we will be most displeased," George told him.

"And we will prank you mercilessly," Fred promised.

"I promise!" Harry laughed. "You think you guys don't believe me!"

"You should tell us about it afterwards," George told him. "All this mystery isn't good for us."

"I'll tell you the whole story when I'm all done," Harry promised. "But it might be a while. The map is just the first step."

"You're around Snape too much," Fred scoffed. "You're sounding like a spy."

"Maybe I am," Harry laughed. "Now give me the map."

They gave it to him, and Harry tucked it into his shirt. "I'll get it back to you next time I see you," Harry promised. "It's not much good to you anyway if you're not actually at Hogwarts."

"We still like to check in," George smiled. "So you mean that you're going to be at Hogwarts then, Harry?"

"After the mission," Harry smiled. "I'll tell all then."

Harry ended up enjoying the Christmas cookies and tea that Mrs. Weasley put out for them, and with the Christmas music and decorations it felt very festive. Harry had really begun to enjoy celebrating Christmas now that he had friends and family. The first Christmas with Snape had felt like everything was new - since this was his second one it started to feel like he knew what to expect, that it was a ritual for him. He could now expect Christmas cookies and tea - and presents, and decorations, and family time. He felt as if his heart would burst.

When Harry rejoined the group, he nodded to his dad and gestured slightly to his shirt, and his dad nodded slightly back. He had the map, and now his dad and Lupin knew about it. Sirius, of course, had had to stay home for his own safety. But today they could enjoy their Christmas tea, Harry could ride his broom with Ron, and then tonight they would go on a rat hunt. Harry couldn't be happier.

They apparated to just outside of Hogwarts, then made their way into the school. Sirius went as Padfoot, and as soon as they were in the wards Snape cast the counter-curse for the smell masking spell. They made their way to the main hall, and Lupin cast Lumos so he could see the map. He said, clearly, "Show me Peter Pettigrew."

Harry gasped in wonder as the map shimmered gold in one area, showing the name of Peter Pettigrew. He gripped the wand Snape had given him in his hand, he was ready to find this rat.

"I didn't know the map did that!" Harry gasped.

"I'll bet it does a lot you don't know about," Lupin smiled at him. "Now, it looks like Peter is in Gryffindor Tower. That makes sense, it's where he's most familiar."

Snape breathed a sigh of relief - he had hoped Peter was still here, but there had been a chance he would be gone. But there he was - in black and white. He felt a surge of hope that he would actually be able to find the prat.

They made their way silently to Gryffindor Tower, and even though Padfoot had been able to smell Peter, Snape cast the countercurse again. Snape informed the portrait of the fat lady that they would be entering upon his authority as a professor, and she let them in with no questions asked. Taking a deep breath, they walked into the common room. Lupin pointed with his wand, and Padfoot became tense and pointed. Snape silently conjured a cage that hinged at the middle, and silently had it approach Peter to capture him. The cage made its way over to a dark, disused corner that had a rat nesting in a pile of shredded curtain. It opened and was about to snap shut when the rat suddenly came alive and bolted.

Chaos ensued. Padfoot ran after the rat, snapping his jaws, and Snape and Lupin fired off stunning and binding curses that kept missing their tiny target. Harry saw the rat running towards a large crack in the wall, and realized if Peter went there it was lost. Harry knew that if Snape and Lupin were missing with stunning spells he didn't have a chance, so he thought of what else he could do.

Suddenly, he realized the curse he should use, and shouted, "Serpensortia!" A large boa constrictor appeared off the tip of his wand, landing in front of the large crack that Peter had tried to enter. Peter veered off, frantically looking for another bolt hole.

"I need you to capture that rat, please," Harry told the snake in parseltongue. "I need him unharmed, and back to me."

"Assss you wisssssh," the snake replied.

The snake slithered off quickly, soon right on the tail of Scabbers. He struck quickly, and before Snape had even realized what happened the snake had coiled itself around the small rat and held it tight.

"Good work," Harry said to the snake. "I'm going to take the rat now."

"He wouldsssss make a goodsssss meal," the snake protested.

"I'll get you another rat, fat and juicy," Harry promised him. "But this rat is really a person, and I need him. Can I have him now?"

The snake reluctantly gave up his prey, and Snape put the rat into a body-bind just to make sure he didn't slip away. Harry reached down and grabbed the rat firmly, putting the frightened rat into the cage, snapping the door shut securely. Harry knew he would try to escape once the body bind wore off, but the cage was secure. And, he couldn't transform into a human while he was still in the box as well.

"Dad, can you conjure a nice fat rat for the snake?" Harry asked. "He's a little sad not to be able to eat Scabbers."

Snape snorted, but complied and transfigured a forgotten paper into a young, fat rat. The Snake eagerly coiled around it, and Harry looked away as the poor thing was dispatched quickly. They all looked away as he began the process of swallowing the rat. The three adults felt chagrined, their efforts to catch the rat had been pretty fruitless, it had taken harry and his snake spell to catch the rat. So much for Peter not making plans and not being the smartest of the marauders, apparently he was really good at running away.

"This definitely Peter," Lupin confirmed, looking at the rat.

"Smells like him, too," Black replied, becoming human again.

"Dad, that was the same snake as last time," Harry told him.

"Yes, it appears so," Snape told him. "We'll send him back after his meal."

"You're a parselmouth, Harry?" Lupin asked him carefully.

"Yep," Harry agreed. "But Dad told me not to tell too many people."

"That's wise," Sirius agreed. "Some people might misinterpret it."

"It's pretty cool to talk to snakes," Harry told them. "Did you see how the snake did what I asked him to do?"

"That was a good option," Snape told him. "Good thinking."

"And what are we going to do with our little rat?" Sirius sneered at the rat in the cage. "Feeding him to a snake is too good for him."

"I think he's lost some more hair," Harry observed. "He's looking even balder than before."

"Now to get him home," Snape said icily. "I'm looking forward to interrogating him."

They took Peter to the potions classroom, and Snape carefully created a barrier around them that was inescapable, even for the likes of an animagus. Then, Lupin nodded to Snape, and tapped the cage with his wand. It disappeared, and the rat cowered.

"He seems to have recovered from the body bind," Snape observed. "Okay, Peter, let's see your ugly face."

Scabbers shrank away, and then Lupin poked him with his wand. "You can do it or I can do it," he told him.

Scabbers bowed his head and slowly transformed into a squat, grubby man. Snape instantly tied him with a spell for ropes as Lupin cast, "Expelliarmus!" to send his wand flying.

"Have mercy!" Peter cried. "I am unarmed!"

"You framed me!" Sirius spat at him. "You betrayed the Potters! They were killed."

"Mercy!" Peter cried, shielding his face. "Don't hurt me!"

"We will not physically hurt you," Snape sneered, his most menacing. "If you cooperate."

"Anything! Anything!" he cried.

"You will be interviewed by aurors," Snape told him. "You will admit what you did."

"I will be executed!" Peter whined. "Let me go! I was a good rat for Percy, let me go!"

"You will confess or you will wish you were executed," Snape menaced.

And this continued for quite a while, and finally Snape was exasperated and pulled out a vial of veritaserum. Lupin and Sirius held Peter's mouth opened while he dropped the requisite three drops on his tongue.

"What is your name?" he asked calmly.

"Peter Pettigrew?"

"Did you betray James and Lily Potter to the Dark Lord?"

"Yes," he answered, squirming.

"Was that your plan all along?"

"It wasn't when the war first started," he answered. "But then as I saw him grow stronger, I knew I wanted to switch sides. Then I worked to become their secret keeper."

"Did you frame Sirius Black?"

"It wasn't planned," he squirmed, "But I saw a way out and took it."

"Where have you been since then?"

"I lived wild as a rat for a while," he admitted. "And then I decided I would try to become a familiar of a child. I found the Weasleys, and it went from there."

"Would you help the Dark Lord come to power again?"

Peter fought it, but within a few moments he said, "Yes."

"What will you do if we turn you into the ministry?" Lupin asked.

"Try to get away," he answered.

"What if you couldn't?" Lupin pressed.

"Lie," Peter answered.

"Well, we knew he'd have to be interviewed under veritaserum," Snape sighed. "I think we take him in."

"How?" Lupin asked. "He knows that Black is alive."

"Not for long," Snape sneered. "I shall obliviate him for the past few hours, When we see where this goes, we'll then release the pensieve memories. I think we may need to get a lawyer."

At that moment, Peter shrank into a rat. Harry yelled, sending forth a Serpensortia casting, and Lupin and Snape hit him with a body bind. He ran around the barrier that Snape had created, trying to find a fault or somewhere to get away. Suddenly he slipped out - and Snape brought down the barrier with a roar of frustration. _How did that stupid rat do that?_

"I have an idea," Harry told him.


	24. Chapter 24 - The Blue Krait

_The herd of snakes is a shoutout to_ _LtsHrIt4ThBoyz_ _and because it's just a really fun thing to write. Also, thanks to Sup25 for a good idea on how to get Sev and Sirius to communicate better. My intention is after Christmas to go back to more with the kids, and the kids will work on Harry's project - freeing Dobby - with some input from adults. And yes, it wouldn't be Christmas in the Severus/Harry household without some pranking. :) If anybody has any good pranking ideas they'd love to see drop me a line or mention it in the reviews. Nothing too mean and nothing that would Harry more than a few hundred lines if caught._

* * *

"I can't conjure very many snakes," Harry told him. "But I could talk to them if you do."

Snape nodded. "Would they do what you ask?" he asked.

"I think so," Harry agreed.

"Sirius and Remus go with the map, then," Snape directed. "I'll conjure snakes, and Harry will send them to find Peter. You two see what you can do with the map. Get him in a cage, he seems somehow able to slip magical containment."

"We won't open it again so easily," Lupin grimaced. "Let's go."

Lupin and Black left, consulting the map and tracking. Snape then turned to Harry, and asked, "How many do you think you can control?" he asked.

"I don't know," Harry answered. "Let's start with twenty."

Snape blanched at that many snakes, but did what Harry asked. Soon, there was a small gathering of twenty snakes of all types; large and small, venomous and harmless. They milled around, looking for prey.

"Hello snakes," Harry spoke to them, and they all looked at Harry in surprise.

The Snakes began whispering, "Ssssspeaker," amongst themselves.

"I am a speaker," Harry told them. "And I need to ask for your help. There is a wicked wizard that has changed into a rat in order to hide from justice. We need to catch him alive in order to help the people he's hurt. Can you help me?"

"Weessss Help," the snakes replied, eager to help this speaker. "Wessss findssss him."

"Now, I need him alive," Harry told them. "So no biting if you're poisonous. You can show him your fangs and scare him back this way, though, if you want."

"Tell them we will give them fat mice and rats once he's caught," Snape told Harry. A little incentive is never a bad thing.

"We will reward you with many fat mice and rats when we have the rat," Harry told them. "All you can eat!"

The snakes hissed joyfully, and were off on their hunt. The snakes could go anywhere that Peter could fit, and due to vermin repelling charms there were no other vermin roaming the old castle for the snakes to confuse.

"So do we just wait here?" Harry asked Snape, watching the snakes depart on their hunt.

"We need to be ready," Snape told him. "I'm going to conjure a few traps. Oh, and we need to get rid of his wand lest he regain it. Accio Pettigrew's wand!"

The wand flew into Snape's hand, and he promptly banished it to his secondary potions supply cabinet. That cabinet was where he kept all of his truly dangerous potions and supplies, so it was probably the most heavily warded place in Hogwarts. He doubted even Dumbledore could get past the defenses he had mounted for that cabinet.

That also gave him a better idea - and he set to work conjuring a cage big enough for a man but with fine enough bars to not let even a mouse out. He then covered the entire thing with wire mesh, making it practically impenetrable. He then laid on several layers of magical protections as well, ensuring that not even an extremely slippery rat could worm his way out of it. _There, he thought. Not as good as my secondary supply cabinet, but as good as he could do on such short notice. Don't worry, Peter wasn't exactly a planner indeed! That was the last time he took such inane assurance from those mutts._ He opened the small door on the side, ready to shove a rat in where it belonged.

"Here they come!" Harry shouted, hearing the voices of the snakes growing louder and more jubilant. Suddenly, he could see a rat scampering towards them, with the snakes yapping playfully at his heels. Harry could tell the snakes were holding back and not going at their true speed, they were herding the balding rat, not chasing him.

"Get that rat!" he heard Sirius yell from behind the herd of snakes. "Get him!"

Just then, Sirius stepped on a snake, which turned to bite him in the ankle. Snape gasped as he realized it was a Blue Krait, an extremely venomous snake. He had a few minutes, though, before the neurotoxins started working on Sirius. And, in a match between saving Sirius and protecting Harry, there was really no competition.

"Lupin!" he yelled. "Sirius has been bitten! It's a venomous snake, have him sit down and keep as calm as he can. Cast a sleeping spell if he can't."

Lupin nodded over the melee, obeying Snape's orders. Turning towards the small rodent that was the cause of all this distress, he glowered. How dare he do this to his people! To Harry! He would be in that cage or he would suffer the consequences!

With a determined swish of his wand, Severus was able to swiftly pick up the squirming rat and deposit him in they ready-made cage, sealing the door firmly.

Cognizant of the fact that he did not want to leave a group of hungry vipers on the loose, he quickly conjured another cage around the herd of snakes. "Please fill the cage with fat mice and rats," he told Lupin. "I need to work on Sirius. When the snakes are done dining, perform the counterspell to send them back home. Then stay and guard Peter while I work on Sirius. I need to take him to my lab."

Lupin, out of breath from chasing the snakes, nodded. "I can do that," he said, and began transforming threads off an old tapestry into a steady supply of fat, crippled mice and rats. The snakes hunted happily, striking and swallowing with much joy.

Snape motioned for Harry to follow, and then levitated the sleeping Sirius up and to his nearby lab. He transformed a student's desk into a medical bed and placed Sirius in it. With a wave of his wand, he summoned his Patronus and sent it off to fetch Madame Pomfrey, who was vacationing with relatives in Kent.

"Stay with him," Sirius directed Harry. "Hold his hand. Tell me if he either heats up or starts having convulsions."

"Is he going to die?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Snape answered. "Krait bites are very dangerous. I need to brew an antivenom. I'm going to get that started because it needs to brew for twenty minutes, then I will give him a standard antivenom that I have on-hand. I will need your help at that time, but just sit with him for now, do you understand?"

"Okay, Dad," Harry answered, trying to calm himself. "I can do that."

Harry looked at the face of Sirius, twisted even in his sleep, and took his hand as his dad had told him to do. His hands felt clammy against Harry's own smaller hand, and Harry began to wonder if he really would die. His face took on a deathly pallor, and he thrashed in his sleep.

Snape rushed to his potion storage, and began methodically adding ingredients to his cauldron, waiting for it to be simmering. He murmured to himself while he added a bit of this and a drop of that, and then finally he added the scantest drop of a bit of something else, which caused a loud cracking sound, and then the potion continued.

"I thankfully had some venom from the Blue Krait on hand," Snape explained to Harry. "Otherwise I could not have brewed such a good antidote. That needs to simmer, let's see about giving him standard antivenom number 4, I think that's the one for Blue Krait."

Just then, a whoosh from the fireplace happened and a very concerned Madame Pomfrey in a deep red party dress appeared. Harry had never seen her in anything but her sober grey uniform, and he gasped at how much younger she looked.

Pomfrey, even in that dress, was all business and she rushed to Sirius's side. "He was bitten by a Blue Krait six minutes ago," Snape told her. "The specialized antivenom is brewing, it is twenty minutes from done. I was going to give him standard antivenom number 4 to slow the neurotoxin, but Blue Krait produces tremors, overexcitability and euphoria. When I wake him to give him the potion, I need help holding him down. Can you help?"

"Yes," Madame Pomfrey answered, drawing her wand. "Wake him."

"Innervate!" Snape commanded, and Sirius woke, his muscles trembling.

"Where am I?" he cried out, his body shaking. "Will I die? Take me back to Azkaban where I can die with nobody in trouble! Help me Snivellus, surely you can't hold a grudge that long."

"Immobulus," Madame Pomfrey called out, trapping Sirius to the bed, but allowing him to keep talking. It had frozen everything but his mouth.

"Very nice," Snape commented. "You've modified it so patients can still take potions."

"It's very useful," she smiled back. "Number 4 tastes ghastly and is hard to get down, let's get to it."

Snape handed the potion to the master potion administrator, and simply helped as she directed.

"Sirius, I know you feel bad," Madame Pomfrey told him. "This medicine will make you better. You must take it, though, even though it will taste bad. If you don't, you could die. Harry needs you alive, Sirius, I expect you to take this."

Sirius opened his mouth in agreement, and let them pour the potion in. As it went in he began to protest, and Snape was ready. He held open Sirius' mouth, and Madame Pomfrey poured the rest of the potion in. Snape forcibly closed Sirius' mouth, giving the man no choice but to swallow or choke. He did swallow, and after Snape was sure he had then he released his mouth to allow him to choke and cough.

"So bad, so bad," Sirius protested. "Awful! How could you do that! Ahh, where am I again? What happened?"

"Is he going to be alright?" Harry asked tentatively.

"He will be fine," Snape told Harry. "I've dealt with snakebites many times before. Let's just say that Hogwarts students are not always careful enough when they are learning the Serpentsortia spell."

"I trust that when this all over you will tell me why I am treating a notorious mass murderer in secret in your potions lab after being bitten by a highly venomous Indonesian snake, correct?" Madame Pomfrey asked Snape.

"Of course," he answered with a bit of a smirk at being able to shock the usually placid medi-witch. "But I beg you to stay with him, I will be back before the antivenom is ready. I must go now and make sure Peter Pettigrew is secure."

Snape turned on his heel and left his lab, smirking at her gasp.


	25. Chapter 25 - Sirius Conversations

_AN: I have some great pranking suggestions from people, thanks! I am working on that chapter now, so any more suggestions get them to me quick!_

 _In this chapter I really wanted to compare/contrast Snape to Sirius and show how much Snape has changed in response to Harry. And not changed, as well, as you will see. :)_

* * *

Sirius had never felt so bad in his life. His bones felt tired and sore, and he found he could barely move his muscles. He clenched his hand experimentally, and found he could barely make a fist. He turned his head carefully, and saw the dozing figure of Severus Snape in the chair beside him. Slowly, he remembered the events of the day before - Peter the rat, the herd of snakes, and then that sickening squishy feel of stepping on that odd striped snake that turned and struck him on the ankle. After that things got pretty fuzzy, but he remembered Snape giving him foul tasting potions, Madame Pomfrey was there too. He hazily remembered Peter in a big cage being interrogated by Moony and Snape, and then the cage being gone again. He remembered Madame Pomfrey being there, but then he remembered the solid, hated presence of Snape being there.

He had cursed the man as his body had convulsions and painful cramps from the snakebite, but he remembered the man being professional and kind, cleaning up the vomit and then rubbing his back to help ease the cramping and convulsions. Had his worst enemy actually been caring for him like that? Would he have cared for Snape with such kindness if the roles were reversed?

"You're awake," he heard Snape announce. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a hundred bludgers," Sirius answered truthfully.

"Any more cramps or nausea?"

"No," he answered truthfully. "Just weak."

"Hmm," Snape answered, noncommittally. He was at Sirius' bedside, inspecting his eyes and his face, and then had Sirius grip his hands as hard as he could. "You are recuperating adequately," he told Sirius. "We can move you back to Spinner's End today. You will be weak and stiff for a day or two, but should be completely restored after that."

"What happened?" Sirius asked, holding his head.

"In the melee you stepped on one of the snakes; unfortunately you chose to step on a Blue Krait, which is a highly venomous snake from Indonesia," Snape explained. "Fortunately, we were able to brew an effective antivenom."

"Thank you," Sirius told him quietly. "I know it was you who saved me."

"Hmmph," Snape answered him. "Poppy helped."

"I don't understand," Sirius said, his voice small. He felt completely vulnerable and defenseless, and to his horror he found tears prickling his eyes. "I don't understand you. We are enemies, we hate each other. But you took care of James' son, and I'm not blind, I see how much you care for the boy. And you're friends with Remus, how did that happen? And now you save me. I don't understand."

"People are not black and white," Snape answered him, sighing. He felt like he was talking to Harry, and then he realized that with all of the trauma he's had, SIrius might be not much more developed emotionally than Harry was. Maybe it would be easier to just treat the man like he was the same age as Harry. "And we don't stay the same. Yes, we hated each other in school. But it's also true that we have all matured, and have been able to see past our childish squabbles. I took Harry initially out of duty, but now he's my son and I love him. In loving him it has also made me softer to his father's other friends. Remus is a good man and I respect him."

"He thinks the same of you," Sirius replied.

Snape nodded, not surprised. He enjoyed the werewolf's company, he had been the first real friend he'd had as an adult.

"And what do you want, Black?" he asked him seriously. "Do you want to continue to torture me? To hate and mock me? What chance would you have with a relationship with Harry if you hate his father?"

"I don't hate you," Sirius said quietly. "And I know I need to apologize to you."

"Don't do it on Harry's account," Snape told him.

"No, I need to do it for me. And for you," Sirius sighed heavily, and then shook himself as if setting himself to a difficult task. "Severus Snape, I am very sorry for how I have treated you in school. I know it was mostly me and James that made your life hell in school, and we ganged up on you. It wasn't fair. But the worst time is when I set Moony on you. If James hadn't wised up and prevented it, you could have been killed or turned. I am very . . . grateful that he did, and I am sorry for what almost happened."

Severus didn't know what to say. "I do not forgive easily," he told Sirius. "But, for Harry's sake, I would be willing to try. But that also means that you have to truly be a new man, Black."

"I will try," Sirius told him ruefully. "I am not perfect, but I shall try to be better."

"You had better succeed," Snape sneered at him. "If you want to have anything to do with Harry."

"I will!" Sirius assured him.

"I suppose you would like to hear an account of the evening," Snape told him. "I mean, after you were bitten by a highly venomous snake."

"Was it like a cobra?"

"A Blue Krait is fifteen times as venomous as a cobra," Snape explained.

"How do you have the antivenom?"

"I keep a small amount of the venom on-hand for certain potions," Snape explained. "It also seems to be a snake that gets called forth with the Serpensortia spell on occasion, so you are not the first I've had to brew an antivenom for."

"My fault," SIrius said. "I stepped on the beast."

"We were able to secure Pettigrew in a cage that could hold him as both a rat and a man," Snape explained. "And we interrogated him again. Apparently he is impervious to most kinds of magical containment, which is why he's able to slip away so easily. It is some sort of wandless, naturally occuring magic for him. It's probably also how he was able to escape the time he killed the muggles and framed you."

SIrius nodded. "Where did you take him?"

"We took him to Senior Auror Bones, and she interviewed him while he was still under the effects of the veritaserum. He was interviewed by her and several other aurors, and answered all of their questions to their satisfaction. There was enough evidence for an official inquiry to be opened, and a full hearing to be heard. We may not need your pensieve memories or to even reveal that you are with us to do this."

"Will Peter have to testify?" Sirius asked.

Snape looked Black over critically. How much to tell the man? Once he had learned that Peter was impervious to magical confinement, he swiftly came to the conclusion that Peter must not be allowed to go to Azkaban. Snape viewed Peter as a threat to Harry, both because he was a ruthless killer of muggles and because he planned to help the Dark Lord defeat Harry. So, a threat to Harry that was unable to be magically constrained was one that needed to be eliminated.

"Unfortunately Peter will not be allowed to testify," Snape carefully told Sirius. "Sadly, at the end of his interrogation by Auror Bones yesterday he suffered an allergic reaction to the veritaserum. This is a rare complication, but it does happen on occasion. I had an antidote potion ready for him, but it was ineffective. Peter Pettigrew expired before he even was able to be transported to St. Mungo's Hospital."

"Peter is dead?" SIrius asked incredulously.

"He is," Snape confirmed. "But he was able to give a complete account of the crimes you were accused of before his death, and the fact that he was being interrogated by the Auror department, well, I think you should be able to be exonerated."

"Was it you?" Sirius croaked.

"I have no idea what you're asking," Snape told him coolly. "I had no idea that Mr. Pettigrew was allergic to veritaserum, and I worked hard to save his life once I realized what was happening."

"Okay," Sirius replied, not convinced. "Just checking."

"I am a respected educator and wizard," Snape sniffed. "I'm not sure why you would suggest I could have something to do with the death of a man that was a threat to my family. I would of course always go through official channels."

"He was more of a threat to me than to Harry," Sirius told him, understanding what Snape was telling him.

"And I think in your case the old adage of, 'You can't pick your family' is appropriate. I certainly would never have chosen you and Lupin, but I have a feeling that we are going to become family. For Harry's sake."

"For Harry's sake," Sirius repeated. He felt strangely comforted that Snape had basically taken him under his protection.

"I would also like to let you know that almost everything I do is for that boy's sake," Snape told him seriously. "And I of course would . . . eliminate any threats to his well-being. I hope that you are a helpful thing to have in his life, because if you ever become an unhelpful thing in his life, then you will be eliminated as well."

Sirius nodded, gulping.

"I'm glad we had this little chat," Snape told him briskly. "I believe we can work together."

"I didn't think you liked me," Sirius tried to smile.

"I don't like you, Black," Snape told him firmly. "You are arrogant, foolhardy, and have at times been very cruel. But I will also allow that a person can change, and I am willing to give you that chance. Do not mistake that with me liking you."

"I understand," Black nodded. He was still feeling a little intimidated by Snape killing Pettigrew in such a manner, and right in front of a group of Aurors too!

"Excellent. We will be leaving later today to go back to Spinner's end to celebrate the holidays there together. I wanted you to know that Harry and I have somewhat of a tradition of pranking during the Christmas holidays that you are invited to participate in. However, if I feel that a punishment is called for by the prank, then all of the miscreants suffer the same punishment."

"Punishment?" Sirius repeated, his eyes wide.

"So unless you want to be writing lines or standing in the corner I would suggest you keep the pranks harmless and that you don't get caught. Do we have an understanding?"

"Of course, Sni - Snape. Of course."

"If you call me Snivellus again I will not be accountable for my actions," Snape glared at him.

"I won't," Sirius promised. "I won't."

"Excellent," Snape replied. "I will have some breakfast brought up, I'm sure you are hungry. I will check on Harry and Remus, and begin to make preparations to return. Let me know if there's anything you need."

Snape glided out of the room, his robes billowing.

SIrius blinked and sank back into the bed, feeling twelve again. How did Snape do that to him?


	26. Chapter 26 - Prank War

Snape woke up the next morning wondering what it was going to be. He had seen the two marauders and Harry in thick conference yesterday after they returned home, and now he was on alert. The prank war had begun.

Yesterday had gone mostly well, though upon their return he had overheard Sirius once again grilling Remus about his relationship with Severus, insisting that surely they had to be lovers for Snape to trust him like he did. Severus' ears reddened when he heard SIrius insist, "C'mon, it just makes sense - you guys are acting like a couple, and he trusts you! Of course you're dating!"

Snape did feel a bit mollified when Lupin replied, "Two men can have a friendship that doesn't involve sex!" he snapped back. "In some ways it would be easier if we were a couple - except that neither of us are attracted to men. Now knock it off before Severus hears us and decides to hex you!"

Severus, for his part of the conversation, stoically pretended that he did not hear a thing. But it also made him think - was he attracted to men? He had never given it much thought really, there had always been so much more to think about it. He wasn't opposed to the idea on moral grounds, so he let his thoughts wander. He pictured Lily, as she was when they were sixteen and full of hormones. He had worshipped her as an untouchable thing, he couldn't even picture being allowed to kiss or to touch her. He thought about Lupin then, and what it would be like to try to be passionate with him. He realized that he wasn't attracted to men, because Lupin was a man he liked and respected and the idea of seeing him with his shirt off did nothing at all for him. Picturing him naked made him want to laugh. He liked having Lupin as a friend and he was a stimulating partner in crime and conversationalist, but Snape had no desire to snuggle him.

His mind then drifted to Fiona, possibly because she was one of the few women he knew his age that he had had contact with. All too easily, he could picture having drinks with her, and moving closer on the couch. He could put an arm around her shoulder, having her curly hair trickle down. And he could pull her soft body close to his, pressing against her ample bosom . . . _Aack!_ He mentally screamed. _I will not think of her that way! Stop!_ He employed his strongest occlumency to try and banish those thoughts from his mind. He did not want to date at this delicate time in Harry's development and relationship with him, and if he were to date it would be a well-mannered and well-schooled woman, probably a fellow potions master he met at a conference or somewhere. He did not want that bossy harridan as a companion.

The next morning as he was scanning for pranks, his mind once again drifted to Fiona. _She's not even an option for a friend,_ he told himself sternly. _That last interaction would certainly have decided that for sure._ He cringed thinking about their last interaction, and felt shame creep into his cheeks. He had called Poppy to help with Black partly because they had worked with snakebites together before, and partially because he was too ashamed to face Fiona. _I'm better off without her as a friend,_ he tried to convince himself.

So distracted by his embarrassment and thoughts, he did not notice that his toothpaste was a slightly different consistency than normal. But as he brought the toothbrush up to his teeth, he nearly spat it out. Someone had substituted his toothpaste for thick hand cream! And it was the kind he made with shea butter to soothe hands that had been washed too many times by the smell of it! Spitting the foul tasting stuff out, he heard giggling behind his bathroom door. With a glare and a quick transformation, he was back to brushing that taste out of his teeth and doing some planning of his own. _Don't get into a prank war like this with a potions master when taste was on the line,_ he thought to himself.

Snape said nothing as breakfast started, and everyone eagerly tucked into the pancakes that Maisie had cooked for them. With the first bite, however, Harry's face screwed up and Lupin choked.

"What's wrong with this?" Sirius demanded.

"Mine tastes fine," Snape smirked, bringing a second bite to his lips. "Oh dear, are the pancakes not up to your standards?"

"They taste like . . . like . . . " Harry started, trying to place the taste.

"Brussel sprouts?" Snape supplied helpfully.

"I like brussel sprouts," Lupin admitted, choking down the pancakes. "But I have to admit to finding it a rather shocking taste for the pancakes."

"I had rather a shock like that myself today," Snape replied, his voice strategic. "I wonder at what the day will hold."

Harry and Sirius giggled together, understanding. Lupin, who had not been part of that particular prank looked confused, and then glared at the two miscreants.

"Severus, may I have some of your pancakes?" he asked politely.

"Certainly," Snape answered, realizing he was not in on it.

Harry and Sirius stoically ate their brussel sprout pancakes, making faces and daring each other to finish without gagging.

Snape softly said, apparently to himself, "I would never prank a potions master about something to do with potions. It would be very easy for him or her to say something like, 'Mess with me and you won't know what to eat.'"

Harry and Sirius giggled at that, but they nodded. Don't get him where he's good. Snape also thought that an important lesson - look at your enemy's strengths and don't strike him there.

After breakfast it was decided that everyone would participate in decorating for Christmas. Snape conjured a tree easily, and soon the three adults were outdoing each other for hanging and creating decorations. Snape had just created a Santa decoration that reminded him of one he'd seen as a child, when he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head just enough to see Lupin holding Harry up to fasten some sort of garland up in the corner of the room. With a whoosh of surprise, he realized that the garland was made by attaching several pairs of black, silky boxer shorts to a line that ran along the wall - HIS black silky boxer shorts! Why were his pants on the wall?"

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Caught you. You think you're so clever?"

Harry laughed, fastening the last ones. "Like our decorations, dad?" he asked, cheeky.

"I believe I will refrain from comment," he answered. "But I do expect three hundred lines of 'I will not get caught pranking making Christmas decorations out of someone's pants' by this time tomorrow."

"Not from me!" Sirius answered, oppositional.

"That is the deal," Snape answered him smoothly, rounding on him to face him. "And one hundred of those lines will be in your handwriting or I will have to take drastic measures."

"Like what?" he asked, still blustering.

Snape cocked an eyebrow. "I will let you decide if you want to find that out."

After lunch, Sirius and Lupin were in the front room reading, and heard a ruckus starting in Snape's laboratory. "That's it!" they heard Snape roar. "I've had it with you! You are getting the strap this time!"

"What?" Sirius asked, looking at Lupin in surprise. "I thought . . ."

"March right upstairs, Mr. Potter!" they heard Snape order, and got up to see Snape ushering the young boy upstairs, protesting all the way. They saw Snape remove his robe and toss it on the chair, and then remove his belt just before entering Harry's room. Could he really be doing this?

Lupin and Sirius looked at each other in shock as they heard Snape yell, "You will not do that ever again, do you understand me young man? Now bend over the bed and take what's coming to you!"

They paled and gasped as they heard a crack! of the belt and Harry's pained yelp, and Lupin started up the stairs. At the second crack, Sirius was right behind them, and they glanced at each other, deciding to intervene. Lupin nodded, and whispered, "Let me, he likes me more," to Sirius.

Lupin knocked hesitantly, and visibly flinched at the third crack of the belt. "Um, Severus, perhaps we should talk about this? Belts leave welts! You don't want to do this to Harry. Let's talk about this."

"Go away!" Snape yelled, landing a fourth blow.

Harry let out a pitiful sob and a plea, "Please don't, dad!" that had Sirius seeing red, and he banged against the door with all of his might. Surprisingly, the door gave way and both of them tumbled into the room, and right into a nest of strings. Then, two buckets of ice water dumped on both of them, drenching them to the skin.

"What?" Sirius sputtered, looking for Harry.

"I'm here!" Harry called happily. "Thanks for rescuing me."

Sirius looked up and saw Harry happily perched on his bed, watching Snape give the business end of his belt to his pillow.

"Harry?" Lupin asked, shocked.

"It was my idea," Harry rushed to assure him. "Dad didn't want to, but I convinced him. I wanted to see what you two would do if you thought he was abusing me, so I turned it into a prank. Wow, only four licks with the belt had you guys breaking down the door."

"I told you it wouldn't be more," Snape smirked at Harry. "Harry had thought it would be after twenty, if at all."

"What do you take us for?" Lupin asked, indignantly. "Of course we would interfere if we thought he was abusing you."

"It takes a lot of courage to take on Severus Snape in a temper," Harry acknowledged. "Thank you, both of you, for saving me."

Snape, smothering a smile, flicked his wand and the strings were banished, and the two of them were dried.

"I too want to thank you," Snape nodded respectfully at them. "That took courage. I am glad to see that my faith is not misplaced. I am pleased to know that Harry has such staunch defenders, even against me."

"Promise not to do that again," Lupin breathed. "I almost had a heart attack."

"And hearing Harry beg was heart-wrenching," Sirius added, shaking his head. "Not again."

"We won't," Harry promised. "Though if I can get him to do it for real I get 200 galleons."

"He pays you 200 galleons if he wallops you?" Sirius asked, incredulous.

"Only if he abuses me or punishes me unfairly," Harry told him. "It hasn't happened yet."

"And it won't," Snape assured all of them. "Really, Lupin, I would have thought you at least would trust that I wouldn't do that."

"I didn't think you would, Severus," Lupin ruefully acknowledged. "It took me a few seconds to even believe what was happening, but Harry was pretty convincing."

"Why does dad call you Lupin and you call him Severus?" Harry asked, curious. "Dad calls everyone by their last names."

"I just do, Harry," Snape admitted. "I'm not accustomed to calling people by their first names. I believe you are the only one that I do."

"It would feel more like family if you would, dad," Harry said to him seriously. "Do you think you could try it out? Just for Christmas break?"

"Just for the break," Snape conceded. He really had a hard time refusing that child anything, he realized briefly, then pushed the thought away.

"I think our valour on that prank should cancel our lines," Sirius said cheekily.

"I don't, Bl - Sirius," Snape intoned. "One does not make up for the other. You got caught, you pay the piper."

So the lines were turned in the following afternoon, each 100 in a different handwriting. Snape scanned Sirius's page, and then glared at the miscreant. "There are only 98 lines on this page," he said firmly. "I believe you are short."

"It's two lines!" he protested. "How did you even count that fast?"

Snape grimaced, and then with a flick of his wand Sirius yelped in pain. "Not fair!" Sirius protested, rubbing his backside against a stinging hex. "I'll hex you back!"

"Ten years out of practice with a borrowed wand?" Snape sneered. "Go ahead and try."

Recognizing his defeat, Sirius glared at Snape. He would make that Slytherin pay, he thought darkly.

And pay he did. Snape found his underwear full of itching powder, and then when he went to the shower to wash it off he found both his water faucet and the shower nozzle spurting just bubbles instead of water. Though a quick flick of his wand corrected both problems, he had to give them a nod for inventiveness. His inventiveness, of course, was put to use when he put tiny spiders infiltrating everything in Sirius' room - his bed, his deoderant, his shampoo, his clothes drawers, everything. After listening to Sirius yelp all morning with very little ability to banish the spiders himself, finally Remus did it for him. Then Sirius, Severus and Remus cooperated on a similar prank - they hid several galleons worth of knuts all over Harry's room - and he spent most of the afternoon on the treasure hunt. The knuts were inside books, in his trunk, in the bristles of his broom, and folded in his clothes. Snape watched him fill a jar with the knuts, and thought this had been the best prank war yet.

* * *

 _AN: Prank Credits: Wandamarie for underwear and itching powder, an unidentified guest for parseltongue and hexing food flavors (parseltongue will be later), and LilyEvansDouble for lotion for toothpaste and the water faucet having just bubbles. Also, RUgoing2writethat for keeping the joke alive. All other pranks in this chapter are modified from pranks that I have actually done (including the belt prank, but it was actually pretty innocent), and let's just say I had a lot of fun in college (my spiders were plastic and we used pennies). Also, Mishi Gohiku has credit for the, "Mess with me and you won't know what to eat" line._


	27. Chapter 27 - Christmas

Christmas morning broke with a truce in the prank war. Sirius' hair went back to regular color rather than Slytherin Green, but Snape's robes continued to be a cheerful Christmas red with green trim despite his best attempts. He knew that Harry had done the spell, so he wasn't angry and insistent, but he was curious as to why he wasn't able to change it back.

"Is it okay to leave it?" Harry asked him at breakfast, smirking. "I know we have a Christmas truce, but the colors are so Christmassy."

"You do look almost like Father Christmas himself," Sirius smirked.

"I suppose we can leave it until lunch," Snape sighed, looking long-suffering. "But only if you tell me how you did it."

"It was Lupin's idea," Harry confessed. "He's been teaching me to cast in parseltongue."

"Parseltongue?" Snape asked, surprised.

"When I found out he was a parselmouth I remembered something I'd read about casting in parseltongue," Lupin told him. "We'd tried a few small spells, so we thought we'd try this. Were you unable to break it?"

"I didn't try too hard," Snape told them. "Should I?"

"Go ahead," Lupin said, "Let's see if you can do it."

Snape tried, and it was only with his strongest effort was he able to shift the color back to black.

"You shouldn't be able to counter it without using parseltongue," Lupin told him.

"It was very difficult," Snape confirmed. "I've never had to work that hard to change something."

"Useful skill, aye?" Lupin grinned. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, indeed," Snape replied. "I believe we just got a present we didn't unwrap."

They did unwrap presents after breakfast, and Harry had never seen so many presents. He helped pass the presents out to everyone, and to his surprise even Sirius had a small stack of presents. It felt so homey, the four of them in their flat with Maisie looking after them.

"I love our family," Harry said, looking at all of them.

Lupin laughed. "I do too, Harry," he answered. "But I think we could use

somewhat of a female presence too."

"We have Maisie," Harry replied.

Lupin, laughing, replied, "I think by next year one of us bachelors should at least have made friends with a woman."

"How about McGonagall?" Harry asked. "She seems nice."

"And she's a hundred years old," Sirius laughed. "I think Lupin means in the girlfriend variety."

"How about Fiona then?" Harry asked. "I liked her."

"Let's open gifts now," Snape intervened. "I believe Harry should start."

Sufficiently distracted, everyone turned their attention to Harry unwrapping his gifts. For the next hour there was gasps, surprises, and shreds of wrapping paper. At the end, everyone had their treasures heaped up before them.

"I can't believe that you gave me a wand," Sirius exclaimed, looking at the wand in his lap. "It looks just like my old one."

"It has the same wood and core as your old one," Lupin told him. "We went together on it."

"I think Ollivander was a bit suspicious," Snape told him. "But he believes his customers have a right to privacy. Thank Merlin."

"Do you think it would work like my old one?"

"Give it a try," Lupin encouraged. "There's only one way to find out."

Sirius waved the wand above his head, and a spray of sparks flashed out of the top.

"It feels just like my old wand," he grinned incredulously.

"Does it work?" Harry asked, grinning.

"Let's see," Sirius grinned, sending a stinging hex to both Snape and Harry.

"What was that for?!" Harry yelped, rubbing his backside. Snape had, of course, effectively blocked it handily.

"That belt prank," Sirius told Harry levelly.

"Okay, that was too much," Harry admitted. "I should not have done it."

"You should have trusted us," Lupin said softly.

"I should have," Harry told him. "But does it make you feel better that how you guys responded made me feel safer?"

"Maybe," Sirius replied, his lip twitching into a smile. "But that was really mean for a prank."

"It was too mean," Snape admitted. "I apologize for my part in it. I permitted it because I realized how you would respond, and I knew it would make him feel safer."

"So you permitted it because you did trust us?" Lupin smirked. "I should have known."

"You should have," Snape smirked. "Just like I knew Bla - Sirius' first spell would be a stinging hex directed at me."

"Revenge," Sirius smirked. "Apparently it is predictable."

"And I chose to let you defend yourself," Snape answered. "Even though you are foolhardy."

"You think I was foolhardy to protect Harry?"

"You are a Gryffindor, and brave," Snape acknowledged. "Once you thought Harry was in danger, you plunged ahead with no plan at all against a better armed, stronger wizard. If I really were the type to have beaten Harry, what is to say I wouldn't injure you in order to continue what I had started?"

"I just thought you had become irrationally angry and would snap out of it," Lupin told him. "I was attempting to reason with you."

"So next time I'm in danger," Harry reasoned. "I want Dad to plan the attack, Remus to reason with the person, and then Sirius to attack blindly. It's like I have my own little army."

"Harry's army," Remus repeated. "Sounds good. Sign me up."

"Why don't you go and put away your presents, Harry," Snape told him. "Then we're all going to go out to fly on brooms together."

"Yeah!" Harry yelled. "I'll be just a minute."

"That child will be the death of me," Snape commented, watching him run up the stairs with his presents."

"All of ours," Lupin agreed. "But I couldn't imagine a better way to go."

"Sentimental Gryffindor," Snape sneered, though appreciated the sentiment. Harry was going to need loyal protectors, and these two mutts were as loyal as they came.

"Can you excuse me for a moment?" Snape said. "Help Harry get ready. I just realized I forgot to send a Christmas greeting."

"Meet you outside then," Lupin nodded. "I'll grab your broom too."

Snape then went to his desk and withdrew a small patch of parchment. He had thought all morning about what to write, and whether or not to write it. There was only one thing he could write, he was sure. On the warmth of the Christmas morning with his son and actual friends, he decided he would just do it. Not be a coward, but imitate those bloody Gryffindors in this at least. He took out a quill, and took a deep breath.

Merry Christmas.

I'm sorry.

SS.

He then took out a small package, which held a small vial in it. As potion master he had the ability to make many different things, one of which was perfume. It hardly taxed his talents, but he had just told himself that it would keep him in practice, and use up ingredients that would surely go off soon. Besides, it might be a nice gift for Molly or Minerva. Deciding not to lie to himself any more, he wrapped the small vial in cotton to cushion it, and then a bit of bright wrapping paper. Affixing the note, he then went in search of his owl.

Seeing the owl fly off with the small parcel, he had to restrain himself from hexing the owl and forcing her to return. He even had his wand out to hex the light brown owl, but managed to force himself to not do it. _It's a general gift, and a bland apology,_ he told himself. _She shouldn't take any meaning from it._ But Snape found himself not sure how he wanted her to take it.

He watched the owl fly off, and then went to join Harry and the mutts fly in the frosty air. And for the first time in a long time, he felt his heart flip a little bit at the thought of that note flying off towards its destination. What did that mean? Did he actually - _fancy_ \- the harridan? He's not even sure what that meant. He understood that he loved Harry, it was strong and good, like the love he had for his mother, and for Lily. But this was something different. It wasn't love, but there was a deep sense of - _attraction_ \- that he couldn't actually explain. He shook himself, telling himself nothing would come of it. What woman in her right mind would actually want to have a friendship with someone like him? He as the greasy bat of the dungeons, not a polite gentleman that could take women to dinner and make small talk. Oh well, he would give her the perfume and the apology, and that would be the end of it.

Lupin watched shrewdly as Snape returned and began flying. He seemed lighter, and his smiles warmer. Hmmm, he had a girl then. Lupin had suspected when he had seen Snape and Fiona together, and then how Snape had called for Pomfrey instead of Fiona for the snakebite had confused him. But now there was a loosening, an ease about Snape that was different than before.

Lupin gripped the quidditch bat and knocked one of the bludgers toward Snape, and he dodged easily. Though he didn't play in school, he was still quite handy on a broom. Sirius knocked it back lazily, none of them doing more than just playing around.

Suddenly, Harry zoomed down, full tilt towards the ground. Lupin and Snape, who had seen it before, merely shook their heads at his antics. Sirius, who had never seen Harry on broom except for the one time at school, dropped his jaw and cried out to the boy. Ignoring all else, Harry dove for the snitch. Turning just before he hit the ground, he flipped a loop and was just able to grab the snitch. Yelling triumphantly, he showed his dad.

"I had it set on level 8, Dad!" he yelled. "Did you see the loop! I only have four more levels until I'm at professional!"

"Good work, Harry," Snape called back. "But you'd better tell Sirius you're alright or he's going to have a heart attack."

"I'm okay, Sirius," Harry laughed. "Did I scare you?"

"You are just like him on a broom," Sirius said, mostly to himself. "You are just like him."

"Do you want to try, Sirius?" Harry called. "I can dial down the difficulty level for you if you want."

"I'm not a bloody seeker," Sirius yelled back at him. "Now watch it before I bash a bludger at you."

Harry laughed and easily dodged the bludger, and then let the snitch go for another round.

* * *

 _Pranks: Littlemisschatterbox2009 Thanks!_


	28. Chapter 28 - New Year's

New Years happened at the Weasley house this year, and everyone had agreed to meet there. Of course Sirius couldn't go, even though most people there at least suspected that he was back. But, of course, he still couldn't come. Harry felt a little bad leaving SIrius at home for the party, and Lupin could sympathize.

"Well, we could always disguise him," Lupin offered.

"I could go as a twelve year old kid," Sirius offered. "C'mon, I can be just a school friend of Harry's. Nobody will suspect."

"It's risky," Lupin frowned. "We should ask Severus."

"Did I hear my name?" Severus asked, entering the room. "I thought we were going to the Weasley's soon."

"Sirius wants to come," Harry told him. "Do you think we can disguise him?"

"Too dangerous," Snape dismissed it. "It would be so much better for him to stay here. A fun evening is not worth blowing his cover."

"How about I am disguised as one of Harry's friends from school?" Sirius asked, trying hard not to have a begging sound in his voice.

"Everyone knows Harry's school friends," Snape sharply answered.

"Please, can't I be twelve for the day? Nobody will know."

"Except people who knew you at twelve," Snape shot back. "It's not safe."

"What if he goes as my nephew or something?" Lupin asked. "We'd have to make him ten so nobody asks why he's not at Hogwarts. We could put enough glamors on him that nobody should recognize him."

"But he will still be Sirius Black," Snape told him. "Do you really think it's worth the risk?"

"Please, Severus?" Black asked, feeling as if he was twelve and begging his father for something.

Snape felt the same way - since when did he become everyone's father? But three sets of eyes looked at him to make this decision. All of his instincts told him no, that it was not worth the risk. But he also did have a heart, or at least he was beginning to thaw his out a bit, and he understood why Sirius wanted to go. He would want to as well. Was there any way that they could do this and be safe?

"How are Harry's transfiguration spells?" he asked, sighing. "Perhaps parseltongue could help."

"I could definitely try," Harry answered, excited. "I've never transformed a person before."

"If we can do the transfiguration and the glamors in parseltongue, then I shall consider it," Snape told them. "But I would have him be my nephew, not Lupin's. And Sirius, if you break character or if you misbehave, I want it to be clear that you will have me to deal with as your guardian, and you are ten years old. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, sir," Sirius answered, already seeming like the ten year old he would soon be.

"I believe I can extract a ten year old from a troubling situation more effectively than Remus could," Snape offered in explanation. "And people are less likely to argue with me about it. Remus is too kind."

"That makes sense," Remus agreed. "But Sirius, that also means no wand as well."

"I can do that," Sirius promised. "I promise that I can."

"Alright, Harry," Snape told him. "The rest is up to you. This is different than the spells that we've done, but essentially the same. Do you want to start?"

Harry nodded, and went to fetch his wand. Then, concentrating on what he wanted and picturing talking to a snake, he cast the transfiguration spell. Sirius shrank in size, his body hair rescinded, and soon Harry was looking at a boy about his height with a cheeky grin on his face.

"How do I look?" he asked, his young boy's voice sounding foreign to their ears.

"Still too much like Sirius Black," Snape sneered. "Okay, Harry, I want you to make his hair black and straight, and his nose longer. Basically, try to make him look a little bit like me."

Harry grinned, tempted to make him a little Snape, but decided not to mess with his Dad when they were trying to get him to do something. So he followed Snape's instructions, and the end result was a ten year old boy who looked enough like Snape to be his nephew.

"Please, Severus?" Sirius asked. "There's no way anybody could possibly know who I was in this disguise."

"And with the parseltongue casting he should be pretty difficult to detect," Lupin agreed. "I think this might be the safest disguise he could have."

"Well, and we are amongst friends," Snape conceded. "It's not like we're infiltrating the ministry or anything. Alright, but SIrius, you really must control yourself."

"I promise!"

"And you must have a pseudonym that is familiar enough that you will respond to it," Snape advised. "How about Simon?"

"Simon Snape?" Sirius grinned.

"I think that would work," Snape looked him over critically. "Alright, let's go before I return to sanity and forbid this foolishness."

They nodded together, and took the floo to the Burrow together. Snape introduced the extra child with an off-hand, "Simon Snape, he's visiting for the holidays. Thought it would be good for Harry."

"Welcome, Simon," Molly smiled at him. "I've never met any of Severus' relatives. How kind of your parents to spare you to visit for the holidays, I'm sure Harry is enjoying having someone his own age."

"We have fun," Sirius replied, grinning in a cheeky manner. "Harry says there's brooms?"

"It looks like you're just as quidditch happy as my boys," she laughed. "The boys are already out on the pitch, out you boys go. Mind you're bundled up!"

Harry and "Simon" ran out to the quidditch pitch, their own brooms in hand. It wasn't long before the two were flying with the Weasley's. Simon hardly needed more than a one-word introduction, the boys obviously thought his skill on a broom was the most important thing they could know about him.

So when Fred Weasley hit Simon just a little too hard with the bludger, Simon narrowed his eyes. Harry saw the look and tried to head it off, but all that happened was a mid-air collision of Harry, Simon and Fred. They all hurtled to the ground, crashing hard against their protective padding. Sirius was up in a second, challenging Fred, and Harry tried to hold him off.

"What is your damage, Simon?" Fred yelled.

"You bloody well nearly took me off my broom!" he yelled back.

"Enough," Snape told them both, his voice calm but far more menacing. "I saw everything. Simon, I am most disappointed by this show of temper, I am of half a mind to take you home this minute."

"Please let him stay, dad," Harry asked plaintively. "He was just nervous with coming here and all. Fred's fine, right Fred?"

"No hard feelings," Fred answered, taking his cue from Harry. "It's fine, just a bit of rough play, is all. No problem. I'm barely hurt."

"I expect an apology to Mr. Weasley, Simon," Snape told him firmly.

"I'm sorry, Weasley," Simon said, looking properly repentant. "I guess I just got a little angry is all."

"No problem," he laughed. "Just take it on field, man."

"Simon will rejoin you in a minute," Snape told them. "Come with me for a moment, Simon. I would like to ensure no repetition of this happens."

Harry cast Simon a sympathetic look, but went to rejoin the twins. He didn't have any real worry, his dad was fair. He would never abuse a child, even if it was Sirius as a ten year old. But if Simon wasn't respectful he might get what Snape called a token of his displeasure.

"How dare you attack that child!" Snape hissed at Simon.

"He's bigger than me!" Simon protested. "And did you see what he did?"

"I did, and you were out of line," Snape growled. "If you are out of line again I'm taking you straight home."

Seeing his outing cut short, Simon decided being repentant was better. "Alright, I'll be good," he said. "I promise."

"Hmmph," Snape replied. "Be careful. No nephew of mine would behave like a brainless Gryffindor."

"Okay," he begrudgingly agreed.

"Now come here for your admonitory smack."

"My what?"

"I'm going to give you a smack to signal my displeasure," Snape told him firmly. "Or we go home now."

"I'm not really a child!" he protested.

"You are today," Snape told him, and before he could protest further he turned Simon to the side and landed one smart smack on his backside.

"That hurt!" Simon protested, rubbing his backside indignantly.

"Then don't earn a real spanking," Snape snapped back at him. "How do you think ten of those across my knee would feel?"

Simon eyed him up and down, and decided not to press him any further. Rubbing his backside, he nodded, and went back to playing. Snape smothered a grin at Simon, Sirius really was more of a child than an adult. Nobody would have suspected him of actually being an adult in a child's body. To be honest, he was mostly a child in an adult's body. Snape half suspected this "disguise" was actually a subconscious desire to be the age he really felt he should be. Hmm, maybe when he got exonerated that might be something to offer him.

Just like the child he was, Simon shook off the admonishment he had received and was back playing with the others as if nothing had happened. Snape laughed to watch Harry fly a loop around Percy Weasley, Percy had no idea where to look for him.

"I see yer abusing a lad again, aye?" he heard a voice from behind him.

"Hello, Madame MacKenzie," he greeted her softly. "That was simply a reminder to the child to behave himself."

"Ye do have a fearsome look about ye," she told him. "'Tis a wonder a child would dare misbehave under yer careful eye."

"I am not so bad as all that," he replied, his lip twitching with humor. "I've hardly ever poisoned one, and it's been simply months since I've had call to hide a body."

"I believe I nearly had call to hide a body no too long ago," she told him. "I had a certain acquaintance of mine who was sae very rude tae me that I was tempted."

"I am sure your acquaintance was glad you could resist temptation," he told her smoothly. "After all, what is said in a minute is often not well-thought out, and your acquaintance was probably very sorry to have caused such offence."

"Perhaps," she replied. "He did write a long apology note, indicating why he was sorry and pointing to several character flaws in himself that he was working on so as not tae repeat the behavior. He also wrote highly of me, and m' infinite patience and other virtues so as tae soften me up a bit for the forgiving part. He also bribed me with perfume."

"I had a similar situation happen to me once as well," Snape told her. "But my acquaintance merely wrote one word of reply to my apology - she wrote the word 'forgiven' and sent it to me. Though brief, it was eloquent and I treasured her reply. I was very happy to be forgiven."

"Sounds like yer friend has a soft heart."

"She does," Snape told her. "And I am very sorry, Madame."

"Ye may call me Fiona," she told him formally. "And the next time I will no bring so good a Scotch. I believe I tempted ye beyond bearing with that bottle."

"And maybe I will imbibe a bit less," Snape answered. "I believe that may have been part of my . . . my foolish behavior."

"That lad of yours is doing well," Fiona commented, seeing Harry pull a particularly spectacular loop. "I daresay they'll want him for the house team, though he be so young."

"He is an extraordinary child," Severus agreed, brimming with pride. "I've never seen a child so magically gifted, and he's a terror on that broom."

"I'll bet ye have yer hands full with that one," she laughed. "He'll make ye earn yer wages, I'd wager."

"He is quite a handful," Snape admitted. "He keeps things very interesting. He is a good boy, he has a good heart and never really wants to do anything bad. But trouble has a way of finding him, he gets into more scrapes than any ten children."

"Yer a lucky man, Severus," she told him softly. "He loves ye dearly. Many fathers could no say that."

Severus looked away, at the small boy who had just grabbed the snitch and was cheering in victory. He was lucky.

Later that night, when all of the children had been tucked up in their beds haphazardly, and with Harry and Simon bunking on the floor of Ron's room. The adults sat downstairs, waiting for the year to turn in order to drink champagne and welcome the new year. There were a few shots of firewhiskey being passed around, and Snape took enough to feel more relaxed but not enough to have trouble controlling his mouth again.

When the Weasley clock struck midnight, Snape took the proffered glass of champagne with aplomb, and even accepted a kiss on his cheek from Molly to welcome the new year. Minerva was there, hugging him as well, and Snape put down his equanimity to being touched so to perhaps too much firewhiskey. Or perhaps Harry was getting to him. For so many years he had only been touched roughly, when Voldemort punished him or when he grabbed a student. But having regular cuddles and touches with Harry had made him soft and less offended by touch from other people.

And then, without warning or thought, he had his arms full of soft-bodied, curly-haired Medi-witch. In the back of his mind he expected a motherly hug like Minerva had given him, or the friendly, big-sisterly cheek kiss like Molly had given him. But instead, leaned into his ear close and whispered, "Happy New Years, Severus," and then she pressed her lips firmly to Snape's own lips and kissed him. On the mouth! His first kiss! She was gone just as quickly, and Snape felt his heart race, his face flush, and his lips tingle by the unexpected contact. He found himself with arms that felt suddenly empty, and an odd pang in his heart as she left. And that one, brief kiss raised far more questions than it answered.

* * *

 _AN: For those who hate the idea of Fiona, I just wanted to reiterate that she is not a major focus of this story, but as a way to shake Snape up a bit. I feel like his first kiss was thawing in his own right, but also showing how much Harry has thawed his heart. For the Fiona lovers, we will not see her for a while, but she may pop up a bit at the end. I feel like I've enjoyed the vacation with these guys, and now it's back to work._


	29. Chapter 29 - Ten

"I'm not doing it," Harry adamantly refused. He crossed his arms and glared at his father and uncle, refusing. "It's the perfect disguise. Let's leave him ten."

Taking a look at Snape's gathering rage, Lupin tried to reason with the child. "Harry, you have to change him back," he told him. "He can't stay ten. Your dad and I can't do it because the charm was in parseltongue."

"I know that," Harry told him with a smirk that Lupin could swear came from Snape himself. "I like having him as Simon."

With a glance at the angering Severus, Lupin tried again. "We can't just leave him as a ten year old. It's not fair to Sirius."

"I don't mind," Sirius grinned impishly.

"But we do," Lupin glared at Sirius.

"Are you flatly refusing to obey me?" Snape asked, his eyes glaring at the small boy.

Harry's resolve began to crumble, and he looked down. "Can't we leave him, dad?" he asked softly. "Please? He's so much fun as a kid, and he's miserable as an adult."

"That is to be decided by adults and by others rather than another ten year old boy," Snape told him sharply. "Obey me at once or we shall start talking about consequences."

Squirming under his father's intense glare, Harry pulled out his wand and said the needed words in parseltongue. Soon an adult Sirius Black stood before them.

"Do you need some lines to remember that you must obey me, Harry?" his father asked sternly.

"No, sir," he replied.

"Very well," he nodded. "I do not want to hear you tell me 'no' like that again, Harry. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir," Harry nodded.

Snape swept away, landing a warning swat on Harry's behind as he walked by. "See that you remember that," he told him austerely. But he also knew that Harry was right, Sirius was happier as a child.

* * *

Harry felt the weight of going back to school. He had enjoyed his time home with his family so much, and now it was back to Hogwarts where Lupin and his dad had to work, and he had to study. True, he got to see his friends every day, but he also missed that time when could just hang out and have nothing to do but enjoy each other.

One major difference now versus before was Sirius Black. Lupin had told him that he had expected a sensational trial proving his innocence, and to have it be enormous news that the one everyone thought was a murderer for all those years was actually innocent. But instead, there was a quiet inquiry that lasted just a few days; the pensieve memories provided by Sirius Black and the Veritaserum interviews of Pettigrew were irrefutable. Snape made unflattering comments about the newspapers being in the ministry's pockets as the story of Sirius' exoneration was on the sixth page, along with the results of the latest store going out of business in Diagon Alley and the retirement of one of Hogsmeade city council members.

"They are trying to avoid the embarrassment!" Snape growled, slamming down the paper. "They know they've put an innocent man away for nine years, and they don't even care!"

"I just care that I can walk around free," Sirius smiled mildly. "I don't care about politics. Now I can use my money, live in a house openly, maybe even travel. And I never have to go back."

"Have you given any thought to what you might want to do?" Lupin asked him carefully. He had had a long conversation with Snape the day before about Sirius, and they both agreed on something they could offer him.

"I dunno," Sirius answered, looking at his hands. "My family has enough money that I don't have to work, but I'm not really sure what I would want to do."

"You were an auror before," Lupin reminded him.

"I couldn't do it," Sirius replied. "I've lost the nerve, I guess."

"Severus and I noticed at New Year's that you really enjoyed being a boy again," Lupin told him carefully. "You seemed much more . . . comfortable than you do as an adult. Do you think that was true?"

"Yes," Sirius agreed, a little too eagerly, and then he looked away in embarrassment. "Yes. It felt so good to be that age again."

"Yes, well, Severus thinks that the ministry would give us permission to regress you if you would like," Lupin explained.

"Really?" Sirius looked up, with hope. Regression spells were strictly forbidden, and permission granted only under certain circumstances.

"You were imprisoned at twenty," Snape told him firmly. "And so your development was stunted anyway. I think a good argument could be made that regression could help you . . . heal the wounds of your captivity. I would suggest regressing to twelve, which is about the Weasley twins' age."

"Who would be my guardian?" Sirius asked, looking between the two of them.

"Well, it would probably be me," Remus told him. "Snape already is busy with Harry, and we're not sure how Harry would take an addition. But because I do have monthly . . . challenges, then Severus would be a secondary guardian to you. Perhaps legally just your Godfather, but a type of co-parent as well."

"You guys would do this for me?" he asked, near tears. "I've never had parents that wanted me before."

"Maybe it should be ten years old, then," Snape observed, looking at Sirius. "It might be better to have some attachment time before the ravages of adolescence."

"I would love to be in class with Harry," Sirius admitted. "It was so fun to be Simon, to hang out with Harry and Ron, and to have no worries beyond what was for pudding and whether or not I was any good at Quidditch."

"Now you have to realize that if we did regress you, you would really be regressed," Lupin explained. "New Year's was a glamour, a temporary spell. If you are regressed, you really would be ten years old with only a vague memory of the life you had before. You would have to go through Hogwarts again."

"That sounds great!" he enthused. And then, more seriously, he said, "And I would give anything to have the last nine years out of my head. The despair, the grief . . ."

"I will talk to Dumbledore, then," Snape told him briskly. "He will know best how to approach the ministry with this request. But we have to warn you, Sirius, to think carefully on this. Once it's done, it's irreversible. You have to be sure."

"I'm sure," Sirius had replied. "I'm more than sure."

"And are you sure you want to be under my authority?" Lupin asked. "Our authority? You will need parents when you are that young, and I think the decision should be made now rather than through the eyes of a child. The Weasleys, perhaps . . ."

"No, I want you guys," he said firmly. "I don't want to be a Weasley."

"Having parents at school can be somewhat of a detriment," Lupin told him. "You should ask Harry about that."

"But also good," Sirius said. "Harry can go to you two any time he wants to, and you are involved with him every day. That's what I want. If I'm going to be a kid again, I want to really be a kid with good parents - to be loved - and to grow up that way. Could you guys really, I mean, could you be my parents?"

"I already have no problem treating you like you were ten," Snape told him firmly. "I believe I have never treated you as older than that."

Sirius smirked. "Even at New Year's when you scolded and smacked me, that felt good," Sirius told him. "My parents either completely ignored me, or harshly punished me if I did something to blacken the Black family name. But you scolded me, corrected me, and then sent me back to play. It didn't even really hurt."

"It wasn't supposed to," Snape told him.

"I know," Sirius rolled his eyes. "That's the point. You expected your displeasure to be enough, and then you gave me another chance. I want that, I want parents who parent like that."

"Most students consider me stern and difficult," Snape glowered at him.

"Ask Harry that," Sirius retorted. "He adores you. Both of you. Yep, I don't think I could have better fathers."

"Very well," Snape replied, feeling like his carefully constructed persona was completely in tatters. Even his sworn enemy thinks he's a good father and willingly would put himself as a helpless child under his authority? He didn't know what to think.

Dumbledore, of course, thought it was a fantastic idea. He congratulated Lupin and Snape on their impending fatherhood (though Snape pointed out clearly he was a Godfather to Sirius), and said the ministry would not be a problem.

"With them, you always threaten what they value most," he told them, his eyes twinkling. "So I will say if they refuse the permission for the regression, then we will sue them for wrongful imprisonment, which we would easily win due to the fact that there was no trial."

"Would you rather sue and have the money?" Snape asked Sirius.

"I have enough money," Sirius shrugged. "I'd rather have the spell."

"I'll have permission by lunch," Dumbledore promised, and went to his fireplace to floo. "Just see if I don't."

With that, he was gone. True to his word he had permission by lunch time, and the spell was set to be done that afternoon. It had been decided that Dumbledore would do the spell, as it was incredibly complex and he was one of the few wizards alive whom had ever done it before. And, one of the few that could command the amount of power that it required.

"Once done, it cannot be undone," Dumbledore warned them. "It is not a matter of reversing a spell, this is a complete regression. It is easier to regress someone than to age someone, because they have been that age before, so it is a matter of restoring what once was. But to age someone takes entirely too complex of magic because there are too many variables in aging - so it almost never works correctly. No matter what the reason, I would never try to age him back."

"I am fine with that," Sirius told him. "I'm serious, I think I'm not cut out to be an adult. At least not yet. And if I'm a kid again and can forget Azkaban . . ."

The other men felt sympathy for Sirius. Though good food and renewed relationships had somewhat restored him, good sleep was still out of his reach. His nightmares robbed him of his sleep, and Severus had given him all the potions he dared to without risking addiction.

"Perhaps with more time . . ." Dumbledore questioned.

"No," Sirius told him. "More time is making it harder, not easier."

"And you promise not to come crying to me the first time you get a detention or a spanking?" Dumbledore asked him, serious.

"I promise," Sirius told him, though he squirmed a bit. Being under rules again was going to be the hardest part of being ten again.

"Once the spell is done, I will submit the documentation to allow Gringotts to treat you as the 10 year old heir to your fortune, and they will set up an heir's vault with money for incidentals and your schooling, as well as a stipend for your legal guardian," Dumbledore told him. "But you have some paperwork to sign before we do this, as you can't sign anything as a minor. I say we have lunch together now, and bring Harry in to see what he thinks. Then after lunch, we can tackle the spell itself."

Harry was actually pretty excited. He had felt at that party at New Year's that Sirius was much happier as a child than an adult, and he was excited to have another playmate. He did feel a flash of jealousy as he thought of his father being Sirius' Godfather. He had just gotten a dad, he wasn't feeling very keen on sharing him. But when he realized that Lupin would have Sirius most of the time and that his dad would be more like an uncle to him, then Harry relaxed. He would love a cousin, he wasn't sure about having a brother.

"Good, then we can do it after lunch," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling at this family that was forming right before his eyes. "Sandwiches?"

They all ate in good humor, though Sirius felt some nervousness about what he was about to do. He kept thinking of all the things he would miss being an adult - firewhiskey being one of them - but as he thought about each one the lure of being a child again was just more compelling. And it wasn't as if he hadn't gone without any comfort in his life in the last nine years.

"Could I have a shot of firewhiskey before we do this?" Sirius asked, smirking. "It will be my last for a while."

"No," Dumbledore answered him, smiling. "This is better done stone cold sober. Lay down on the floor, Sirius. This is your last chance to change your mind."

Sirius, shaking his head at changing his mind, took up position on the floor, and Dumbledore began walking around him, making complicated patterns with his wand. Then he lifted his arms and commanded, "Sit minor. Sit Decem annorum." Sirius' body arched, his body glowed, and then Harry gasped as he saw Sirius' body begin to shrink. His features stayed the same, mostly, but his body shrank into what it had been before. The light then faded, Dumbledore lowered his wand, and Sirius sat up, looking at the world through ten year old eyes.

"It worked!" he cried out, looking around the room.

"Yes it did," Dumbledore smiled, quickly shrinking his clothes to avoid him embarrassing himself. "Welcome to being ten years old, Sirius Black."

"Hi Dad!" he called out to Lupin, cheeky.

"You'd best remember that for all intents and purposes I am your father," Lupin smiled at him. "You look so young."

"I believe that was the idea," Snape told him, looking Sirius over. "And I should have guessed he was just as cheeky at 10."

 _AN: Shoutout to_ _Mishi Gohiku_ _for having the idea of Harry refuse to turn Sirius back. Of course, I don't think Harry would have held out long against Snape._


	30. Chapter 30 - Dinner with Lupin

Lupin sat next to Snape at dinner after the first day of being back to school, and breathed deeply. "I'm going to kill him," he said, and neither of them had any question on who he meant.

"We knew he'd be a handful," Snape told him, passing him a dish of buttered peas. "What did he do this time?"

"He wouldn't sit still in class, he kept interrupting, and you should have seen him during flying lessons! He nearly took off two other kids' heads!"

"I hope you disciplined him," Snape told him.

"He spent time in the corner and has to write lines about flying safety before he can fly again."

"Good," Snape told him.

"But really Snape, I need your advice on parenting."

Snape felt as if the sky were going to fall at a former marauder asking HIM for nothing less than actual parenting advice, but through occlumency he was able to remain impassive. "What seems to be the problem?"

"He has no boundaries," Lupin confessed. "I knew this before, but before I was his friend and not his father. He laughs and sneers at everything I say, he treats me like a buddy. I'm not sure how to change it so I'm his father."

"In class you are his teacher."

"And he does acknowledge that, barely. But this morning he almost made me late with his dawdling and he told me to keep my shorts on!"

Snape smothered a vindictive smile, he did not envy Lupin his job. In some ways it would have been easier if he had taken the boy, Sirius already feared him a bit. Lupin had to shift from friend to father, which was harder. And he thought that this transition was going to be a lot harder on the father than on the son.

"You need to begin as you mean to continue," Snape told him, passing him the potatoes and mostly successfully managing not to smirk. "Anything you let him get away with now he's got permission with to continue through adolescence."

Lupin, looking stricken, looked at Snape remorsefully. "He has to go over my knee, doesn't he?"

"I'm afraid he's probably going to have to," Snape confirmed. "Many parents are successful at using other methods, but I think a spanking is a method that your ward will understand."

"But how do you do it?" Lupin asked. "That time I spanked Harry and Draco was hard enough, but I was their teacher and so it sort of made it easier. But this? This is really me saying that I'm his father and he has to obey me."

"You are his father," Snape replied, exasperated. "And he does have to obey you. Look, do you want him to turn out like last time?"

"What do you mean?"

"Last time his parents mostly ignored him except to brutalize him if something called into question the Black family name, right?" Snape asked. "That's what he's used to. That's what he expects from you. You heard him talk about the time I corrected him at the Weasley's house - he liked it because I corrected him in a kind manner and sent him on his way. That is infinitely kinder than leaving him to his own devices."

"You should have been his guardian," Lupin lamented.

"Look, Remus, I'm no expert either," he snapped. "When I first had Harry I was so blinded by prejudice and who his father was that I really didn't even see the abused lad before me. I was brutal and unforgiving. But when I realized my error, I made amends. You are blinded by prejudice as well - you are thinking of your playmate when you were growing up. He is no longer your Padfoot, he is now young Sirius Black that is in need of a firm hand if he is not to grow up to be the bullying holligan we knew in school."

Lupin was quiet for a minute, and then said, "Do you think I can change how he was as a teenager?"

"His only prayer is you," Snape answered, seriously. "I do not pretend to be an expert in child psychology, but surely you can see how much of his antics as a teenager was a method to try and get attention and to get someone to draw a line with him. Dumbledore did him no favors by the endless excuses and forgiveness. Would that he had caned the boy in his first year."

"You can't be serious!" Lupin exclaimed.

""Sirius would at least have respected him. As it was, it ran roughshod over everyone. I think one of the reasons that he liked me so much is that I argued with him, fought back. He was looking for something to push against. And that sort of indulgence nearly got me killed."

"You sound like Machiavelli."

"Well, for all he was a raving lunatic he had some points," Snape grinned. Then, sighing, he said, "Sirius's going to need to hate you for a while. He's going to need to see if you can take it. He's going to need to push against you and know you won't fold. That's what taking in a troubled child is about."

"I can't do it, Severus."

"Then SIrius is the one that pays the price," Snape shrugged. "And he would probably have been better off not going back to ten."

"Couldn't you be the disciplinary parent?" Remus asked.

"Coward," Snape told him firmly. "It needs to be you if he's to respect you. He already respects me."

Remus sighed and picked up his fork to start his dinner. "You're not telling me what I wanted to hear," he told Snape sourly.

"What kind of friend would I be if I did that?" Snape grinned at him. "But I will also tell you what you do want to hear. Part of being a father is discipline, and because that's the issue with Sirius right now it feels like it's all of the issue. But for the most part, being a father is about many other things. It's about showing love, comfort, boundaries, playing, connecting, talking, guiding, you know, all the things you excel at."

Remus nodded, recognizing the comment for what it was. Snape really was his friend, not just someone who would tell him what he wanted to hear. Just like he really needed to be a father to Sirius, and not just a buddy who told him what he wanted to hear. "With Harry I think you had less of the discipline and more of the comforting."

"Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of comforting," Snape told him. "But if I hadn't also disciplined him where he needed it, I don't think the comfort would have meant the same thing. And there are no boundaries without the authority to set them, which comes from dishing out consequences when they're broken."

"How did you learn so much about this?" he asked, his voice sounding defeated.

"McGonagall made me read some books," Snape admitted, blushing. "It was, well, it was sort of a consequence with my not doing a good enough job. Would you like to borrow some?"

"I would," Remus readily agreed, his eyes dancing. "Better to do it now then have it assigned as a detention. Minerva is quite fond of Sirius as well."

"Oh dear," Severus observed, looking at the Gryffindor table. "I believe that your ward is having a contest with Fred Weasley to see how many peas he can shove in his nose."

Remus sighed. "It had better be tonight, then," he acknowledged.

"He really is quite gifted with the peas," Snape remarked calmly. "I'm amazed at how many he got in there. And Fred has a larger nose."

Remus laughed, nearly spitting his own peas out of his mouth, and reached for his glass of water. He appreciated his dry sense of humor, but couldn't help goading his friend back a little too.

"I see that his table manners might need improvement," he conceded. "It brings me to mind of the New Year's party. Such a lovely time."

Snape's ears turned slightly red, and he busied himself with the roast beef. Lupin laughed, and said, "It's alright, Severus. She's a lovely girl."

"I didn't expect her to do _that,_ " Snape admitted, looking away. He had wondered how much Lupin had seen, and had concluded that he hadn't seen because he hadn't brought it up before now. _Damn._

"It looked like you enjoyed it, though," Remus smiled.

"Of course I did," Snape replied, the barest of smiles touching his lips. "Haven't you kissed a girl before?"

"A few in school," Lupin admitted. "But I mostly steer clear of the fairer sex. I don't believe it would be fair to burden a woman with my, well, with my condition."

"I believe my personality would likewise be such a burden," Snape smirked. "But she actually kissed me. What do you think that means?"

"I don't think she objects to your burden," Lupin answered, his eyes dancing merrily. Then, looking at Snape more critically, he asked, "Snape, have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

Snape glared at Lupin, but then softened. "No," he answered, deciding to be honest; the man's tone hadn't been mocking, but invitational. "I spent my school days infatuated with Lily, but it was more like goddess worship than dating; we never touched or dated. Then when I, well, when I made other life choices - there didn't seem room for a girlfriend. The dark lord would often instruct his followers to marry to support whatever plans he had, but I was not a pureblood, and was not ever thought of in that manner."

"Was that your first kiss?" Lupin asked softly.

If Lupin had asked in jest or with teasing, Snape would have hexed him without hesitation. If he has asked sadly or sympathetically, Snape would have obliviated him then and there, consequences be damned. But instead Lupin asked softly and respectfully, and not as if it were a bad thing. Just a question. "Yes," Snape admitted. "There were other . . . opportunities, but none I felt were . . . appropriate. In my days as a death eater . . . well, let's just say that they sometimes called me the Eunuch because there were some forms of torture I would never participate in. And several dark witches that I had no . . . interest in. Or wizards, for that matter."

"Well, I think Fiona was a good option for a first kiss," Lupin smiled.

"I didn't really have much of a choice," Snape snapped back. "She was right there in my arms before I even realized what was happening. I was expecting maybe a hug like Molly gives me, I was taken completely by surprise."

"You can protest all you want," Lupin told him. "And I agree it was a surprise. But don't think you can convince me that you didn't like it; I was there and I saw everything. You did nothing to protest to her."

Snape turned his attention to his food once again, and looked up to see Harry looking at him. Harry had seen that Lupin and him had had a conversation that had made Snape embarrassed, and he wondered about it. Snape nodded at the boy to indicate that everything was alright, and Harry nodded back. Snape forgot how closely that boy watched him, and he had to make sure that Harry was assured. Then Harry picked up one pea and gestured to his nose, which earned him a fierce scowl from his father. Laughing, Harry ate the pea and turned his attention back to his dinner companions. He gave a shrug like, "just checking!" and Snape smirked at his cheek. That boy.

* * *

 _AN: PadfootIsMyHomeDawg - shoutout for the parenting advice and "the sky is falling" comment. Made me laugh. Though that situation was already written, I tweaked it in your honor._


	31. Chapter 31 - Dad

AN: Sadly, it is time for another story to draw to a close. This is the 5 chapter warning, we are about 5 chapters away from the end. There is one major task that still needs to be completed and some emotional stuff. I haven't decided whether or not to do another book, it does radically change the structure to have Harry as a regular Hogwarts student, and there are a lot of other well-written stories re-writing Harry at Hogwarts. But, it would also be fun to explore how much his world has changed from his adoption and subsequent interventions from Snape, so I'm feeling torn. I welcome input and opinions about this.

* * *

Sirius walked in to their quarters that night, holding his broom. His hair was ruffled, his clothes mussed, and his face grinning. He almost regretted not being twelve, it would have been fun to be living with those Weasley twins in Gryffindor tower.  
"Where have you been?" Lupin asked softly.

"Out with the twins," Sirius answered easily.

"Have you completed your homework?" Lupin asked in that same soft voice, but Sirius heard a bit of a tone to it that made him uncomfortable.

"Na, I'll do it tomorrow," he shrugged. "I know all of it anyway."

"I think we need to have a talk," Lupin told him. "Why don't you come over here and we'll chat."

"I'm going to grab some food and crash," Sirius answered. "Tomorrow."

"No, tonight," Lupin told him again.

Shrugging, Sirius turned to go and then found himself being drawn down into the chair beside the couch and stuck to the cushion.

"What?" he protested. "What are you doing?"

"You seemed to have a problem listening to my instructions, so I thought I would help you," Lupin replied firmly, tucking his wand away. "We need to have a talk. Now."

"What is it?" Sirius shrugged, pulling on the chair and realizing that he couldn't get off.

"We need to talk about how you are a child and are subject to rules and that you need to respect them and me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. How long am I going to be stuck to this chair?"

"Until I discipline you," Lupin answered firmly.

"What?" he asked. Lupin had his full attention now.

"You have been highly disrespectful today," Lupin told him calmly. "You were rude to me this morning, you had difficulties in class, you had atrocious table manners at dinner, and then you go without asking to fly with other friends and come home two hours after I expected you. So yes, I am going to discipline you."

"How?" Sirius asked, his eyes focused on Lupin.

"A spanking," Lupin replied, his voice calm. "Over my knee."

"You're barmy if you think I'll comply with that," Sirius spat. "What do you think you're doing, Moony?"

"I am being your father," Lupin replied firmly. "I am not Moony anymore, Sirius. I am not your friend, you have Harry and the twins for that now. I am your father."

"Then I want a father that doesn't spank me," Sirius shot back.

"Good luck with that one," Lupin replied calmly. "Or would you rather apply to your Godfather for your discipline?"

Sirius paled, and shook his head. He wasn't that crazy.

"The headmaster warned you that becoming ten again would mean that you were really ten again," Lupin explained. "I have tried to be easy on you for that, but I realized that that was the wrong approach. You don't need an easy father right now, you need firm boundaries. Boundaries you should have had before."

"My parents disciplined me!" Sirius insisted.

"No, they didn't," Lupin answered calmly. "They ignored you, and then they beat you senseless if you did something that tarnished your family name. This is different, this is what having a real parent is like. I am not going to ignore you, nor am I going to beat you senseless. You will bend over my lap and I will smack your bottom ten times over your trousers with my hand. It will smart a bit, but not terribly. It will serve as a reminder that you must obey me."

"Will you use a cane ever?" Sirius asked, his voice with a slight tremble.

"No," Lupin answered. "Certainly not when you're ten. At ten you might get the ruler or slipper if you're very naughty, and maybe as an older teenager if you do something incredibly bad or dangerous you might get the strap, but I won't cane you."

Sirius nodded, assured. He looked at Lupin critically, and asked, "What if I don't comply with this punishment?"

"Then I will hex you over my lap," Lupin replied calmly. "And hold you there with a sticking spell. And the count goes to twenty."

"Does it have to be over your lap?" Sirius wheedled. "How about I bend over a desk? Or the arm of the sofa?"

"This time, especially, it needs to be over my lap," Lupin told him.

"I'm just getting used to being a kid," Sirius told him, smiling in the charming way that Lupin recognized. "Really, I didn't do anything that bad."

"If it hadn't been for staying out after dinner you most likely would have gotten a warning smack and a stern lecture," Lupin told him. "You knew better than all of those things. But when you left without asking for two hours . . . no, Sirius, this time it is a spanking. What were you thinking? You are not at Hogwarts as a boarding student, you are meant to be home with me and studying. Fred and George are older than you, you do not have the same rights and privileges that they have."

"I should have been twelve," Sirius grumbled.

"That's what I thought at first too," Lupin agreed. "But Severus said that ten would be better so we could bond better, and I'm beginning to think he's right."

"Since when did that greasy bat become your best friend?" Sirius exploded, his face reddening and his fists clenching. "Since when do you listen to him? He was our enemy, Moony! You should not be friends with the evil git!"

Lupin remained calm through effort, the words that Sirius had spat out had been what Lupin had been afraid of him saying from the beginning, since Sirius began living with him. He had been prepared for the words - he had known they were coming, and expected them to be very painful. To his surprise, he realized it wasn't that painful at all. He saw the words for what they were - a tantrum by an overwrought ten year old who was looking for any way out of the spanking he knew was coming.

"Severus Snape is your Godfather, Sirius, and he deserves respect," Lupin told him in a calm, serious voice. "He is also my friend, and your future teacher. If I hear you say anything else disrespectful about him you will go to him and confess your disrespect and accept whatever punishment he chooses to assign for your misbehavior. Am I clear on this point?"

"Clear," Sirius spat. "I never thought I'd see the day where you would choose _Professor_ Snape over me."

"I am not choosing him over you," Lupin told him, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "He is an adult, we are friends. You are a child, you are my ward. There is no competition because you are in two different roles. You cannot be my friend anymore, at least until you are an adult. And Severus could never be my son. Do you understand you silly child?"

Sirius, not thinking logically, set his jaw in fury and crossed his arms.

Remus sighed, and released the sticking charm. It was time for action now, perhaps Sirius would understand logic more later. "Come here, child," he commanded. "Lay yourself on my lap."

"Like Hell I will," Sirius sneered, but there a look of panic flashed in his eyes too.

"I know you're scared," Lupin told him, his voice calm. "But I won't hurt you, not really. You have to trust me."

"How can I trust you when you're going all Snivellus on me?" Sirius whined, looking for an exit.

With a wave of his wand, Lupin locked the door audibly. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to just come to him, but telling himself he wouldn't earn an increase unless he actively fought him, Lupin took his arm firmly. "I know you're scared," he repeated, guiding the boy over to his lap. "Trust me."

Sirius allowed himself to be guided over his lap, and soon found himself with his stomach and ribs pressing firmly against Lupin's bony legs. Feeling the vulnerability of this position, he began to struggle and Lupin held him firmly around the waist.

"Why are you getting this spanking, Sirius?" he asked.

"Because you aren't my friend any more."

"That's probably more accurate than you realize," Lupin replied, nonplussed. "I am your father now, and I am telling you that you have to obey the rules, which include respecting me and letting me know where you are at all times. You not telling me where you were was both disobedient and dangerous. Your consequence is ten smacks."

"Let me go!" he protested, squirming but not with all his strength.

Lupin let the first smack fall firmly on the small boy's backside, and Sirius let out a startled yelp. Lupin followed it up with another, and Sirius protested, "Hey! Ouch! Stop that!"

"It's ten, Sirius," Lupin replied, and then set about applying the ten smacks to the boy's backside. He made them firm, even firmer than he thought strictly necessary, because the last thing he needed was Sirius to think he was a softie and spankings weren't something to be feared and avoided. He thought of Machiavelli again as he realized it had to be hard enough for him to avoid.

At the tenth smack, Lupin rested his hand on SIrius' back, patting softly. He felt the boy's breath hitch and catch as he tried hard not to show the sobs in his voice. "It's all done, Sirius," he told him. "All is forgiven."

"Forgiven?" Black asked darkly. "After just a few swats?"

"Would you like more?" Lupin asked, smirking.

"No, no, that's fine," Sirius assured him, looking away as he got up from Lupin's lap. "You spank like a girl, Remus."

"Perhaps," Lupin replied, amused. "And now you know what to expect. But I also know that you're not showing me your face."

"I'm not crying because of the spanking," Sirius assured him, wiping his eyes. "It hardly hurt."

"I'm not trying to make it hurt so much you cry."

"You're not?"

"No," Lupin told him. "It's supposed to serve as a reminder and a deterrent, but not brutalize you. I suspect you're crying because you're confused, and you're sad you disappointed me."

"You're not my father," Sirius said, but it was in a woeful, wistful sort of way.

"I can be," Lupin told him, taking his hand and guiding the boy to his lap yet again. This time, he settled the boy on his lap, mindful of a sore bottom, and wrapped his arms around him in an easy embrace. "If you let me be."

"I don't know what to say," Sirius told him, but his muscles loosened and he found himself sinking into the hug.

"You don't have to say anything at all," Lupin told him. "But at some point an apology would be nice."

Sirius was quiet for a few moments, just relaxing and absorbing how good it felt to be held and forgiven. "I'm sorry," he said quietly after several minutes had past. Lupin had almost despaired of hearing it, and he almost missed it when it was said.

"Thank you," he replied softly to the young boy on his lap.

"Are you really going to be my father?" he asked, his raw longing held in check no longer.

"I am," Lupin replied to him. "I know your memories are from before you became ten, but you actually chose Severus and me to raise you because you recognized that we could give you what you didn't have before. You wanted a real father, someone who cared about you. That is what I signed up for, and I have not changed my mind."

"I can be pretty naughty."

"Nobody knows that better then me, child," Lupin laughed. "I was your best friend from age eleven on. I know exactly what you did, even the stuff nobody ever caught. I went into this with my eyes wide open."

"Then why?"

"Because, though you are naughty, you are also an exceptional boy," Lupin told him. "You are one of the bravest people I've ever known, and fiercely loyal. You would sacrifice everything for what is right. I hope that with some love and care, you may be able to grow up this time with less damage."

"Maybe I should have regressed to being a baby," Sirius told him, looking at his hands. "I'm pretty screwed up."

"I like ten," Lupin told him with a laugh. "And I think with some time, you'll be able to heal from some of that. Now, it is time to get ready for bed. Did you want a snack before bedtime?"

"I'm starving!" Sirius exclaimed. "What do you have?"

Laughing, Lupin led him into the kitchen. "Oh, and I got a note from Severus wanting you to have a meeting with Harry and a few others tomorrow. Something about freeing a house elf, whatever that's about."

"Harry and his schemes," Sirius laughed.


	32. Chapter 32 - The Best Laid Plans

_AN: I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words, encouragement, and story ideas. Even people who had never reviewed before chimed in! Thank you so much, you have given me a lot to think about. I have some ideas on what I might do next, I will keep you posted as I make some decisions about this story. I will always keep writing (sort of an addiction at this point), the question more is what I will write._

* * *

That night after dinner, Harry and Snape enjoyed a quiet evening of Harry working on his schoolwork and Snape looking over his lesson plans for the coming week. They both enjoyed the companionable silence, but Harry kept sneaking looks at Snape when he thought he wasn't looking. _Why did that man look so stern all the time?_ he wondered happily, knowing that he wasn't as stern as his face made him appear.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Snape sighed, giving up and making eye contact.

Harry squirmed, but said the first thing that popped into his head - "I haven't had a proper cuddle in such a long time, and it's been such a long day . . ."

Sighing, Snape pushed away from his desk and went over to the sofa. Happily, Harry nearly jumped on his lap in enthusiasm. Snape wrapped his arms around the boy and both of them just breathed for a minute.

"I gave you a cuddle yesterday," Snape told him after a few minutes. "I don't think you are actually cuddle-deprived."

"I know," Harry sighed happily. "But I just like it. Besides, this is our first day back, and we deserve a little cuddle."

"I won't disagree with you," Snape told him, squeezing him a bit. "I enjoy them too."

"Will Sirius get a spanking?" Harry asked.

"What makes you ask?" Snape asked, surprised.

"Well, he was awfully naughty in class," Harry told him. "And he just rolls his eyes at Remus all the time. And I heard him make plans to go and fly with the twins tonight, and I don't think he asked."

"I think it's likely he will get spanked at some point," Snape told him. "Do you think that it would be wise of Remus to do?"

"Yes," Harry replied, considering. "I mean, nobody likes being spanked. It hurts and it's embarrassing too. But there's part of it's that kind of nice as well."

"What do you mean?" Snape asked, surprised. Didn't most children just think spankings were awful?

"Like the last time you spanked me," Harry told him, squirming a bit. "That was the hardest spanking you've ever given me."

"You deserved it," Snape told him, trying not to sound defensive.

"Of course I did," Harry told him. "And I knew it. I was a little scared of it, but I also knew that it wouldn't be like what I'd had at the Dursley's, even though I was really bad. So part of what's nice about getting a spanking is that you know that nothing worse is going to happen. I was safe, and though my backside hurt for a bit, when it was done it was done. And the other part of it that's nice is harder to explain. It's also just nice to know someone is paying attention and cares that I get into trouble. Like, you remember when I tipped over all those things at the store? It cost you money and embarrassment, but you didn't spank me because you realized it wasn't my fault. You were just worried because I was scared. But then with the pixies, which didn't cost you anything but was a little dangerous, you spanked me. So you think safety is worth more than money or embarrassment, and when I endanger my safety I get the hardest punishments. You were mad about the egg not because I was breaking rules, or at least not just that, but what you were really mad about was me getting hurt. Or almost. Or whatever, do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think I do, Harry."

"Sirius needs that too," Harry pressed. "He needs to know someone cares about him. When I was with the Dursley's, if I was injured I wouldn't tell them because they'd get mad. I think Sirius was a lot like that, and it would be good for him to have Lupin care about what he does. And if he gets a spanking, he'll know that; he'll also hopefully know that Lupin won't cane him or anything either."

"Is he afraid of that?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't think adult Sirius would be, but it's different when you're a kid. If an adult really wants to hurt you, they can. There's not a lot you can do about it."

"Not you, they can't," Snape growled. "Not unless they want to be hexed into next year."

"Exactly," Harry replied, hugging his father. "But you could if you wanted to, and it took me a while to know that you wouldn't. Sirius needs to know that too."

"You are quite the philosophizer today," Snape smiled. "Deep in thought?"

"Just thinking about freeing Dobby," Harry admitted. "I'm not sure what to do, I'm stuck. Can you help?"

"I think this should be a project you do with your friends," Snape told him. "Why don't you invite Hermione and Ron for tea after school tomorrow, and we'll have a conversation about it. Would that suit you?"

"Of course!" Harry smiled. "Can I owl them tonight?"

"Once your homework is done," Snape told him. "But I'll let Lupin know you want SIrius tomorrow."

"The first thing you four must understand," Severus addressed the four ten year olds. "Is that I will not get you out of any consequences you incur. That includes with Lucius Malfoy. He is a dangerous man, but I have to work with him in my efforts for the cause, so if he decides to get even, there might not be much I can do about it."

"It's most likely going to be me," Harry acknowledged. "And it's worth a beating if I get one."

"Are you sure?" Snape asked. "You would be fine with Malfoy taking his cane and laying it across your back?"

Harry gulped, but nodded. "I've been hurt before," Harry answered. "And for much less reason. If he hurts me but we free Dobby, I'm okay with that."

Snape nodded, believing him. "Then let's try and use our heads so that you won't be held responsible," he answered. "I will give suggestions and advice if asked, but mostly I think this should be a project for you children to work on. It will teach you more than you can use in class."

"Can I use my wand?" Harry asked.

"If you must," Snape answered with a glare at Hermione. "But only if you must. Any potions you want to use must be asked for and approved by me."

Hermione gulped, looking down.

"I told you he knows about the Polyjuice," Harry told her assuringly. "You don't have to worry."

"She does have to worry if she ever goes into my potions stores again," he warned her, leveling a black gaze at her.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she squeaked, not looking up. "I promise I will always ask from now on."

"Very well," he nodded.

"Are we going to include Malfoy in this?" Sirius asked.

"Since it's his dad and his house elf, let's not do it unless we have to," Harry told him. "I don't want to ask him to have divided loyalties unless we have to."

"He might be one of the best ones to help us with Lucius, though," Hermione commented. "It has to be Lucius that gives Dobby the clothing, so we need to get both him and Dobby here on some pretext. Then we need to have him give Dobby clothes, and there obviously has to be some subterfuge there to get him to do it. I just don't see how we're going to do that without Draco."

"How about we have some sort of show or project that all the parents come to," Harry suggested. "We used to do that at my old school with the Dursleys. They called it an 'Open House' and the parents meet the teachers and everything."

"But how do we get Dobby there?" Hermione asked. "I mean, we could get Draco and Narcissa, but how often would they bring Dobby to something like that?"

"My house elf is related to him," Harry told her. "I'll bet she could get him there."

"Okay, then," Ron agreed. "How do we get Lucius to hand Dobby clothes?"

"Well, obviously he can't know what he's doing," Sirius told him. "We have to lie."

"Maybe if the clothes were in something else?" Hermione asked.

"Or so dirty and gross that Lucius does it without thinking about it," Harry grinned at them.

The banter continued, and assignments were assigned. Snape laughed at their planning, but had to give them credit for doing a decent job. They thought of several different ideas, scenarios, and plans, coming up with the best ones. They even subjugated their own desires in order to get what they wanted to get done. Harry agreed to take responsibility with Lucius, Hermione was going to be the organizer of the open house, Harry was going to make sure that Dobby was there, Ron was going to take care of Draco, and Sirius was going to do what Sirius did best. They even agreed that the timeline should be a month - that was seriously thinking ahead for children of this age.

After the other children were gone, Snape offered Harry a cup of tea and they drank together companionably. Harry made a face when he realized Snape had given him chamomile and mint tea instead of his usual English breakfast, but the eyebrow from Snape was enough to let him know that Snape thought this was much too late for caffeinated tea.

"You need to involve Draco," his father offered him after the first few sips.

"I don't want him to have to feel divided between his father and his friends," Harry told him.

"But think about the implications if you are successful and you don't involve him," Snape told him, sipping the fragrant tea. "How would you feel in his shoes?"

Harry thought, sipping the tea, and said, "I guess I would feel left out if all my friends planned something and didn't include me."

"What else?"

"I'd feel pretty mad that they targeted my family," Harry answered, feeling small.

"Would you want to be friends with them or would you declare lifelong enmity?" Snape asked.

"Probably the emmcy thing."

"Enmity," Snape repeated, saying the word carefully. "It means that he would declare you an enemy and you would be rivals and hostile towards each other from then on."

"Do you think he would do that?" Harry squirmed.

"I do," Snape answered. "Wars can be started with less than that. And at ten, alliances shift quickly. If you are going to free Dobby and retain Draco as your ally, then you need to do it carefully. What do you think would work?"

"Should I just tell him our plans?" Harry asked. "Ask him if he wants to help?"

"Perhaps," Snape answered, sipping his tea. "What would be a way to do that that would let him remain loyal to his father if he so chose?"

Snape loved this part of parenting best of all. Him and Harry together, making a plan, and Snape subtly training him in diplomacy. He could almost see Harry's mind work and expand, and Snape had to admit it was a very sharp mind. With the proper training Harry would be as skilled as Snape himself. Hmm, that meant he should really start working on Occlumency soon.

The next day, Harry purposely got Draco on his own during their first recess. Glancing around to make sure they weren't overheard, Harry said, "Draco, there's something I must talk to you about, but it has to stay between us."

Draco, feeling a bit flattered by the urgency and secrecy, said, "Of course, Harry. What is it?"

"I know you have a strong sense of family loyalty and honor," Harry told him. "And I admire that, and I'm just learning how to do that myself. But there has been something that's happened that I can't ignore, and I'd like to help someone. But I felt like I had to let you know because I don't want it to cost our friendship."

"What is it?" Draco asked, concerned.

"Your house elf Dobby," Harry confessed. "I have seen him a few times when he's been beaten, and he's desperately unhappy. I want to free him."

"You just can't free the servants!" Draco growled, but kept his voice low so as not to be overheard. "What would he do?"

"I thought he might like to work at Hogwarts," Harry confessed. "Draco, I'm not sure if you see it or not, but someone at your house is beating Dobby."

Draco paused, and had a moment of indecision. How much to say? What to do? Finally, he sighed and said, "It's my father. When he gets angry, nobody is safe."

"I'm sorry, Draco."

Draco shrugged, and said, "Mostly it's not aimed at me. But anybody of lesser rank or status . . ."

"Would you help me, then?" Harry asked. "I would completely understand if you didn't want to help, but we could really use your help if you can."

"Against my better judgement, I will help you," Draco told him, his voice firm. "But I will do nothing that would make my father suspect me. I am no fool, I don't want to be the one he takes this out on."

"I think I will be," Harry answered him cheerfully. "But don't worry, my dad will rescue me if it gets too bad, even though he says he won't."

"You have a lot of confidence in that old bat."

"Yep," Harry grinned a response.

"Alright, tell me what you've planned already so I can at least make sure you don't get killed," Draco sighed.

And so they spent the rest of the day scheming, and Harry had to admit that Draco was an excellent chess player. Perhaps Ron and him should play sometime.


	33. Chapter 33 - Jealousy

_AN: Mandancie, this is for you. :) I realize everyone is anxious to see the attempt to free Dobby, that will be tomorrow. I wanted Harry and Snape to have this conversation first. I'm sorry if that's frustrating for some people, but I like the free Dobby attempt, so hopefully it makes up for the wait._

* * *

The next day was the night before the full moon, and Sirius came to spend the first of this three nights with Snape and Harry. Snape transformed the extra chair in Harry's room into a bed, and Sirius brought his things in.

Harry wasn't sure how to feel about Sirius. Part of him really liked having Sirius around because he was a lot of fun and could always come up with good ideas of something to do, but he also wasn't sure what it would be like to have him in his bedroom. The times he'd shared with Draco hadn't always gone that great, and he wasn't used to sharing Snape at all. No, he didn't know how this was going to go at all.

After dinner, when they were sitting and doing their homework.

"Why do I have to be here three nights?" Sirius asked, his voice laced with whining. "He's only a werewolf for one night."

"Well, tonight he's pretty difficult to be around," Snape answered smoothly. "He tends to isolate himself because of that. Even my cheerful presence is not welcomed on the night before the full moon."

"And the day after?" Harry asked.

"He sleeps the whole day and night," Sirius answered. "I remember that from school."

"Which gives us the pleasure of Mr. Black's company for three nights a month," Snape finished smoothly. "Back to work, Harry."

Harry grumbled, but bent his head back to his work. It was very difficult to focus on what he was supposed to be learning when he was watching Sirius so carefully. What was he going to do next? Did he have plans on trying to get Snape as his guardian because he was so obviously superior to Lupin? Harry didn't know what to do with these rising feelings of hostility towards Sirius, and even he had to admit that for the most part he actually really liked Sirius and he was fast becoming one of his best friends. So why could he not stand the look of him across the table?

"I'm done," Sirius announced, rolling up his parchment and stowing his quill.

"You are not," Harry answered with a growl. "There's no way you finished the maths homework yet."

"I guess I'm just smarter than you," Sirius smirked at him. "Have fun finishing, thick-head. If you need help, maybe the house elf can help you."

"Take that back," Harry growled lowly, his eyes flashing.

"Boys . . . " Snape started, but he was too late. Harry launched himself at Sirius, and Sirius met him in the middle, his fists flying. They quickly found themselves levitated apart, but both had gotten in a few good punches before they were separated.

"Harry, go to your room," Snape told him in a stern, icy voice. "I will deal with Sirius and then be in to talk to you."

"It's his fault!" Harry hotly yelled over his shoulder as he stomped to his room. "He shouldn't even be here!"

"You punched first!" Sirius shot back.

Harry slammed his door shut, and then threw himself on his bed. He punched his pillow in frustration, and then just buried his face in his pillow. This had been just like it had been with Draco - and Snape had spanked him for it. He was going to get it, and it was all that stupid Sirius' fault! Hot tears threatened to fall, and Harry tried to stop. He took deep breaths, just as his father had taught him to do to help manage emotions, and he found himself able to breathe again. _Calm,_ he told himself softly. _Calm._

Out in the living room, Snape found himself locked in a battle of wills with a ten year old version of his former nemesis.

"It wasn't my fault," he told Snape flatly.

"We both know you goaded him," Snape told him, his eyes flashing. "That doesn't work anymore. Goading someone until they attack, and then you hit back and they take the blame will not work here. And especially not when I know all of your tricks."

"But he did throw the first punch!" Sirius protested.

"I will punish him after I am through with you," Snape told him firmly. "Right now we are talking about you. This is Harry's home now, and you will respect him while you are here."

"I never asked to be here!" Sirius answered hotly. "It's not my fault that Remus does this!"

"I never said it was your fault," Snape told him, and then sighed. It was so easy to be able to read these Gryffindors, their emotions flew off of them in waves. "You are worried about Remus."

"Of course I am," Sirius snapped. "I used to be with him when he changed, and I know how rough it can be."

"Wolfsbane has made a vast improvement to his condition," Snape explained to him. "It is still painful, but not nearly as bad as it was. And he sleeps most of the full moon now."

"I only have vague memories of that time," Sirius admitted. "But I also know that I am under the care now of a man who I tormented."

"I will not seek revenge," Snape told him firmly. "Harry is James Potter's son for Merlin's sake, do I seek revenge on him?"

"No," Sirius answered, his voice laced with jealousy. "You love him."

"As I will you if you give me a chance," Snape answered him. "You are like my nephew, you are family now."

"I am?"

"You are," Snape told him firmly. "Now, as far as your behavior goes, I'm going to give you an official token of my displeasure and then you will spend a half hour in the corner. Harry will join you in a corner when I'm done with him."

"Don't punish him," Sirius told Snape. "You were right, I was goading him."

"Harry will receive what you do," Snape told him. "Come here and bend over my lap."

SIrius nodded, but found it very difficult to do. Even though he knew an official token would not hurt very much, he had trouble bending over the lap of Severus Snape, even though his memory was hazy about the man when they were boys together.

Snape, seeing that he was trying but that it was difficult, took pity on the boy and guided him over his lap. Landing two sound smacks on the trouser-clad backside, he then sent the boy to the corner after a quick pat on his shoulder to let him know that he wasn't really mad.

"That hurt!" he protested, rubbing his backside from the corner, but with a cheeky grin.

"Then behave yourself next time," Snape told him, smirking. They both knew it was a show, Sirius probably couldn't feel it at all anymore.

Harry heard his father enter his room and sit down on his bed. Harry tacitly looked away from the man, feeling his temper rise again. How dare the man discipline Sirius first! Didn't he know he was in here and worried? What kind of a father was he?

Suddenly, Harry felt a sharp smack on his backside, and before he could protest, it was followed by a second one.

"Ouch!" Harry protested, rubbing his bottom.

"No fighting," Snape told him firmly.

"We wouldn't want your precious Sirius to get hurt," Harry spat at him.

"Why are you jealous?" Snape asked in a soft voice, completely catching Harry off guard. Harry expected a sharp admonishment or another smack, he didn't expect Snape to ask a real question like that.

"Because," Harry answered in a small voice.

Snape sighed. "You are my son, Harry. I'm not sure how to communicate to you that nothing will change that. I have taken on being Sirius' godfather and uncle like person, but I am still your father."

"You don't like him more than me?" Harry asked in that same small voice.

"How can you even ask that?" Snape asked, but without venom. "I could never like anybody more than you."

Harry creeped over then, cautiously touching Snape, until Snape pulled him onto his lap and held him firmly. Harry hadn't wanted to ask for a cuddle, but it felt so good.

"Did you cuddle Sirius?" Harry asked.

"No," Snape answered serenely. "But I might have to at some point. Be warned, I would have thought it a sign of the apocalypse."

"I want it to always just be you and me here at Hogwarts," Harry told him.

"I know, it is nice," Snape sighed. "But things always do change. This year we have Sirius and Lupin, next year who knows? What if I get married and father a son? What if Draco is orphaned and I'm the only Godfather outside of Azkaban?"

"You would get married?" Harry asked, his eyes wide. "Like, to a woman?"

"Perhaps you think I'd be better suited for a house elf?" Snape asked dryly. "Really, Harry, I'm not that old that it isn't a possibility."

"How old are you?" he asked, curious.

"A bit past thirty," Snape told him.

"You could get married," Harry said, a whole new look of horror on his face. He had heard about evil stepmothers.

"Calm down, there's not much of a chance since I'm not even dating," Snape told him. "I was just using it as an example. But even if nobody else ever gets added to our family, you will grow up and maybe get married yourself. What I'm trying to say is that our love for each other will always be there, no matter what else happens."

"You'd better not have another son," Harry glared at him. "Or adopt Draco."

"Even if I did," Snape rolled his eyes in frustration. "You will still be my son and my firstborn. If I have another child, I would want you to be his or her big brother. If I marry, I would want you to be her son. If Draco comes to live with us, we figure it out together. Don't you see?"

"See what?"

"We are attached, you and I," Snape told him. "It's like there's an invisible string attaching the two of us together. Wherever we go, we are still attached. Whatever happens, and I really do mean whatever because knowing you it could be particularly unpredictable, but whatever happens the simple truth is that we do it together."

"So we figure out how to deal with Sirius together?"

"Absolutely."

"Just like we worked on Peter Pettigrew together and Dobby's freedom and how I should talk to Draco?"

"Exactly," Snape told him, shifting him firmly on his lap. "We trust each other, and we do it together. But if you doubt me, fear me, lie to me, or don't trust me then we've lost. I don't doubt you, I don't fear you, I don't lie to you, and I trust you. Together we are so much stronger, don't you see?"

Harry nodded, and he hoped he really did understand. "I told Draco that you would protect me from his dad even though you said you wouldn't."

Snape smirked. "I will protect you as much as I can, and you are right that I will go to great lengths to protect you. Haven't I always?"

"You have," Harry answered, hugging him. "Do you think it's going to work?"

"I don't know," Snape answered him. "There's a lot of variables. But it's a good solid plan, especially given it was hatched by Gryffindors, and I'm proud of you for orchestrating it."

"Just one week to the open house," Harry smiled. "We'll see then."

"Alright, enough cuddling. You need to go find a corner in the front room."

"The corner?" Harry asked, incredulous.

"Sirius has already been out there for ten minutes while we've been talking. You two have another twenty minutes to give you time to think about how to get along together. And I expect an apology from you after your corner time, as you were the one who threw the first punch."

"Can't I just have a spanking instead?"

"In addition to we can talk about it," Snape smirked. "Go."

"You realize you're putting two of the major players in the freeing of a helpless, abused house elf in the corner," Harry told him as he entered the main room.

"Perhaps it will give you time to plan," Snape answered. "No more arguing."

Harry obeyed reluctantly, he hated the corner. It was just boring and stupid. Sirius managed a half-worried, half saucy glance at him as he came out, and seemed to assure himself that Harry was in one piece and not any worse for wear.

"Eyes front, boys," Snape growled. "Twenty more minutes."


	34. Chapter 34 - Volcanic Plan

The night of the open house found Lupin very pensive. He had been filled in on what was going to happen that night, and couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Snape had given the endeavor a fifty percent chance of succeeding, but Lupin couldn't give it that good of odds. It just seemed too ludicrous that a band of ten year olds could outsmart Lucius Malfoy. But he had agreed to let them try, if for no other reason it would make for a good educational moment. He just hoped the education didn't end up with Ministry involvement or harm to one of the students.

The plan was deceptively clear. However, the pieces bringing the plan together were difficult. How to get Dobby to school? How to give Lucius something to give Dobby? How to get Lucius, a pure-blooded wizard who had been trained from infancy about the rules for having house elves to break the rule and give Dobby clothes. Snape had grilled them endlessly, poking holes in their plans, forcing them to think of strengths and weaknesses. Lupin shook his head at the daring of the head of Slytherin, he couldn't believe he was letting children take on Lucius Malfoy. He half admired and half feared for his friend; and he knew the children didn't understand that their actions could cost Snape a great deal. They could cost him his ability to spy, his use of the Malfoys as a resource, or even his job if his ability to control his ward/son came into question. But Snape would never tell them that, he wanted them to be able to do this without fearing for him.

"Remus!" he heard Molly Weasley greet him from behind, and he spun to greet her.

"Welcome!" he told her, and allowed the woman to crush him into a hug. "I'm happy you came tonight."

"Ron insisted," Molly told him. "I was going to just send Arthur, he's better at these things, but Ron really wanted us both here."

"I'm sure he's just excited to have you both see his work," Lupin told them smoothly. "Have you seen his art projects? Here, you go look at those and I will greet the next parents."

Lupin greeted and assured all of the parents that had come for the open house night, from the flighty and ethereal Mr. Lovegood to the altogether too earthy Mr. and Mrs. Goyle. Neville's grandmother glared at several other families with impunity, and the bird on her hat seemed to echo her stern, unforgiving facial expression.

"Welcome to everyone," Lupin smiled as the parents found seats by their children and glared up at him, blaming him for their current discomfort. "I'm so happy to see so many parents be able to make it. And thank you so much for complying with our request that wands stay at home, we are very happy that this could happen as a great show of cooperation and trust in our community."

As he said that, the Malfoys swept in the room looking impeccable and commanding. Lucius' steel-colored suit and perfectly coiffed platinum hair contrasted nicely with Narcissa's charcoal, perfectly fitted suit that showed her waspish body to perfection. They descended on the classroom with the air of celebrity, and gazed around to see who of use could be in that room.

"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy," Lupin smiled benignly. "I was just beginning my address. Now then, I wanted to review the subjects we will be covering this year . . ."

The parents shifted in boredom at hearing Lupin speak. Malfoy couldn't stand not being the center of attention nor even consulted, and Narcissa looked around to see if anybody was as fashionably dressed as she. When her eyes fell on Molly Weasley they widened briefly in horror, and then continued to scan the room. Everything about how she sat was well-thought out perfect, from her pewter pumps to her matching silvery eyeshadow.

"And now comes the time of the evening where we are going to have student presentations," Lupin smiled at them. "Please allow us a few minutes to allow students to set up their presentations. Then you will be allowed to mill around the room and see the projects that each child worked on for this open house."

"Mother," Draco respectfully asked, standing respectfully at her elbow.

"What is it, darling?" she asked, her voice brittle.

"I forgot part of my presentation at home," he answered. "Could I call a house elf to fetch it?"

"Certainly," she told him. "Would you rather I try to summon it for you?"

"Professor Snape said it would hurt it to be summoned," he told her. "And I'd also rather not bother you with it. Thank you."

Draco inclined his head respectfully, and quickly summoned Dobby to fetch the potion that he had worked on for his presentation. Though most of the topics had been about non-magic things, Draco was given permission to do a potion under the watchful eye of the Hogwarts Potions Master. It also gave a good excuse as to why a simple summoning spell shouldn't be used. After a few minutes, Dobby appeared with the potion, and Draco sent him back again for the apparatus used. He then nodded at Harry, who motioned to Ron. It was time to make their move.

"Mr. Malfoy," Harry respectfully addressed him. "It is good to see you this evening, sir."

"It's good to see you as well, Mr. Potter," Lucius answered, the consummate diplomat. "I trust you remember Mrs. Malfoy."

"Of course. Hello, Mrs. Malfoy. We're glad for you to come."

"Mr. Potter," she nodded. "Aren't you setting up your project?"

"I already have mine set up," he told her. "Would you like to see it? It's just over here. It's a model of a volcano."

"Why ever would you make such a thing?" Mrs. Malfoy asked, her face halfway between a sneer and a laugh.

"We studied geological forces," Harry explained. "And my father helped me to make a potion that would make lava. I'm going to try and get it to work now."

"Cool, Harry's going to make his volcano work!" Ron gasped in glee, and in the process shoved Mrs. Malfoy rather hard to the side. "This is going to be epic!"

"Watch yourself young man!" she snapped at him. "Who would raise such a hooligan?"

"Are you discussing my son?" Molly trilled, her eyes narrowing. "You couldn't possibly mean Ron, you harridan!"

"Obviously I did you nearsighted hag!" Narcissa snapped back. "And if I had raised a son that was so clumsy and ill-mannered, I wouldn't think to show my face in public!"

"At least it's my face and not some plasticized version that the latest glamor-casters constructed for me!" Molly slashed back.

Lucius tried to interfere in the women's spat, uncomfortably aware that the whole room was watching them and smirking to themselves at their display. Lucius kicked himself, he had so much trouble when Narcissa felt insulted! "Ladies, please," he interfered softly.

Just then, Harry's volcano began to rumble and explode. But instead of some noise and some nicely flowing lava that Harry had led everyone to expect, the volcano began shooting mud and ash out of its mouth just like a real volcano would. A cloud of foul-smelling gas began to choke the bystanders, and the closest adults began to get covered in globs of gray mud.

"What is this?" Narcissa demanded. "My dress is an Anthony Wardwick!"

"Then perhaps you should give him back his dress," Molly retorted angrily.

"Dobby!" Lucius called out, spotting his little house elf. Lucius did actually have his wand with him, but he wasn't going to advertise it by casting a cleaning or shielding charm for just a little mud. But his house elf could help them!

"Dobby can help!" Dobby called, and took a stack of towels from Hermione, who was there to offer them to him.

Lucius, flustered by his wife and Molly still continuing to fight, quickly grabbed the towels and began trying to use them to at least, well - blot - at his irate wife, and he was having difficulty. One towel he found was completely useless, and he threw it back at Dobby as he grabbed another.

"Master has just given Dobby clothes," Dobby said, looking at a cream-colored t-shirt covered with volcano goo as if it were a priceless treasure.

"What?" Lucius snapped. "What did you say?"

"Dobby has a shirt," he repeated, and held up a small t-shirt with the unmistakable logo of Dr. Who across the front. "Master threw it to Dobby when Dobby was helping, and Dobby caught it. Dobby is free."

At that moment, Lupin managed to cast a spell on the still sputtering volcano, and the room fell completely silent. The pure-blood families rose in their anger, and the others waited to see the explosion happen.

"You cost me my servant!" Lucius exploded, glaring and advancing on Harry. "You and that infernal, idiotic, malfunctioning project . . ."

"Not in here," Snape interrupted. "Lucius, I see that you would like a conversation with Mr. Potter, let's move it to the hallway before we become even more of a spectacle than we already are."

Lucius, blind with rage and gripping his cane tightly, stormed out of the room, expecting Harry and Snape to follow. Harry gulped, even though he had the dawning realization that he had actually accomplished his goal. Dobby was free. He felt his father's hand on his shoulder, and felt the prickle of magic spread over his entire hide with an unfamiliar warm tingle. What had his father just cast on him?

"Your 'son' cost me a servant!" Lucius stormed as soon as the classroom door was closed. "Do you have any idea how hard they are to come by! Him and his stupid volcano!"

"It wasn't on purpose, surely you see that," Snape tried to reason with him. "It was just a series of most unfortunate happenings . . ."

"How could he have done something so foolish!" Lucius stormed. "I demand the right to discipline him!"

"I'm sure I could take him aside as I did before," Snape tried to reason with him. "Surely it would be more appropriate for me to . . ."

"I will not have you treating him softly, Snape!" Lucius stormed. "You have no idea how to properly discipline a child! I will do it or by Merlin you will pay, Snape! I can have your job for this! Your connections!"

"He's right, dad," Harry said softly. "I don't want you to pay for what I did. You should let Lucius spank me."

"He won't be spanking you like I do, Mr. Potter," Snape told him carefully.

"I'll be alright," Harry said, finding a strange confidence from that warm tingle he'd had before. He knew his father had done something to him, and then especially when he referenced the time before when they had fooled Lucius Malfoy.

"No more than ten," Snape told Lucius. "Remember he's just a boy, and he didn't really mean any harm."

"Ten with my cane," Lucius spat.

"You can use a school cane or a strap," Snape told him. "Your cane is more like a club, that could break bones on such a small boy. How would the ministry feel if you broke his bones, Lucius?

"Transform for me a school cane, then," Lucius snapped. "I wasn't supposed to bring my wand. And conjure a proper desk for him to lean over."

Snape quickly conjured a school cane, one of decent heft or he knew that Lucius would complain, and handed it reluctantly over to the irate pureblood. He then conjured a desk of a handy height to bend the boy over the edge. "You don't have to do this . . ." he tried one more time.

"You are such a woman, Snape!" he growled at him. "You sound just like Narcissa with Draco. Now, boy, take off your robes and your shirt and bend over that desk now."

"Please, sir," Harry begged while complying. "Please let me keep my shirt on." If the spell Snape had cast would protect him from the beating, wouldn't Malfoy notice when he didn't get welts?

"Off now," Malfoy ordered.

"You'd best comply," Snape told him. "Don't get him any angrier than he is. School rules says no shirt but your trousers on, as a nod for modesty."

"Back away, Severus Snape," he told him dangerously. "And do not interfere once I've begun."

"He's just a lad," Snape told Malfoy, backing away as Harry bent over the desk. "Surely a paddle or ruler would be more appropriate."

"He's getting the cane," Malfoy growled. "And he'll be grateful he's only getting ten."

The cane whistled through the air, and Harry braced for the impact. A sharp blow cracked across his backside, but as Harry suspected it didn't really hurt, he just felt a sharp tingle, as if the cane had been Snape's hand. Knowing he had to perform, he jumped and cried out as if he was in pain. The cane fell on his backside again, and again Harry jumped and cried out.

"Please, sir," he begged. "I didn't mean any harm."

"You were just incompetent, then," Lucius growled. "And that is even worse." He let another blow fall, this time across Harry's back with all his strength. Harry yelped and twisted, trying to trust Snape. He wouldn't have assured him about taking off his shirt if he didn't have a plan. Another blow fell, and Harry cried out.

"He's had enough," Snape told Lucius. "Surely you see that. Lucius, I must insist . . ."

"I will say when he's had enough," Lucius told him, with two sharp blows in quick succession. "Did you see the mess he made?"

"Cleaned up quickly," Snape told him, wincing at the next blow across Harry's backside. "Really, Lucius . . ."

"If you did this more often he would be more under control," Lucius spat. "Really, Snape, it has to hurt a bit if it's to teach the proper respect." Another blow.

Snape silently watched as Lucius finished the beating, wincing at every blow. His stomach clenched watching Harry's prone body subject to that cane, even though he knew that the boy wasn't feeling it too much. But the boy's theatrics were actually pretty good, if he didn't know Harry as well as he did he would have been fooled. Although the fact that Harry knew exactly how to react to a beating like this did cause Snape to sympathize a bit as well.

The last blow fell, and Snape approached his son. "It's done, Harry," he told him softly.

"Teach your 'son' to show the proper respect," Lucius spat, his breathing heavy with emotion. "A few stripes from a cane does not compensate me for the loss of my servant."

"You are the one that threw the elf clothes," Snape observed, helping Harry to stand. "All the boy did was add too much powdered lava rock to the potion."

"I was . . . distracted . . ." Lucius pursed his lips.

"I am going to get the lad home now," Snape told him.

"School rules, Snape," Lucius spat. "No pain or healing by magic."

Snape merely nodded, his hand carefully on Harry's shoulder as he began to limp back to their quarters. Harry's face was awash in tears, his breathing still hitching, and he clung to Snape for support as he limped. Lucius, satisfied, turned on his heel back to the classroom.

* * *

 _AN: The Dr. Who t-shirt was for RUGoing2writethat. Thanks for all your great ideas, my friend._


	35. Chapter 35 - Aftermath

_AN: This is the penultimate chapter, and I am debating on how hefty of an epilogue to do at this point. The final chapter is really a_ _dénouement (which means an unraveling of a knot)._ _I have been thinking of one certain scene for the epilogue since I began this installment of the series, but I'm still debating after that. Due to real life stuff and the fact that I'm not writing three chapters ahead at this point, there is a small chance that there might be a day's delay on the final chapter, so fair warning. By the final chapter I will let you know where the series is going, I really appreciate all of the input people gave me._

* * *

Harry limped back to their room, and Snape silently supported him until they were safely in their quarters. Once inside, Harry straightened up and tentatively rubbed his backside.

"You alright?" Snape asked him quietly.

"I'm fine," Harry told him. "It didn't hurt very much, it more felt like what your hand feels like. What was that spell you cast on me?"

"It's one of my own invention," Snape told him carefully.

"It made it so the cane didn't hurt very much, but that it also looked on my skin like I'd been beaten. And it was good enough to fool Lucius Malfoy."

"Yes," Snape answered.

"That seems like a pretty specific spell," Harry said. "Why did you invent it?"

"Your mother helped me," Snape admitted. "We made it for when I went home in the summers."

"But why would you need that spell?" Harry asked, confused.

"Harry, I haven't really told you much about my childhood," he sighed. "Let's just say that a cushioning charm alone wouldn't have helped because my father would have seen that he didn't leave welts."

Harry's eyes grew wide. "Did you father hit you with a cane?" he asked.

"Mostly a strap," Snape replied neutrally. "Sometimes a stick or anything else he could get his hands on."

"So he abused you? Like the Dursleys did me?" Harry asked, incredulous.

"Yes," Snape answered simply. "He would drink, and then he would rage, and I was most often the target. Sometimes my mum was too."

"I'm sorry, Dad," Harry told him simply. "Thank you for telling me."

"I knew I would have to tell you as soon as I cast that charm," Snape told him. "There's no other reason to have a charm like that.

"Is that how you knew?" Harry asked, thinking back of the way his Dad had treated him. "You always seemed to know what I was thinking about."

"Perhaps," Snape answered. "But I wasn't adopted as you were."

"Then how did you learn to be a good Dad?" Harry asked, surprised.

Snape, feeling slightly flattered by Harry so casually calling him a good Dad, answered honestly, "It was Dumbledore supervising me when I was a young professor."

"Maybe he helped, but I taught you too," Harry told him, cheeky.

"Indeed," Snape answered solemnly, acknowledging as truth what Harry offered in teasing. He then looked at Harry critically, frowning. "I want to look at those stripes," Snape told him. "They still hurt a little, that's to irritate your skin enough to make the marks look real."

Nodding, Harry laid down on the couch and let Snape inspect the damage. He had four stripes on his backside and six across his back. He hoped Snape would be satisfied with just inspecting the ones on his back, he had had enough of showing his father his backside, thank you very much.

A sharp knock rapped on the door, and Snape got up to answer it with a frown. He didn't want to be disturbed, Harry was supposed to be crying his eyes out with Snape comforting him with non-magical means.

"I thought I might offer m' services," Harry heard a soft Scottish lilt enter the room. "Remus sent a patronus to me to explain what happened."

"I see," Snape told her. "And he explained that I wasn't able to interfere."

"I ken some muggle means tae heal," she explained. "I brought a few for the puir laddie."

"Come in," Snape invited, his voice inscrutable. "He's lying on the sofa."

"Harry, lad," she told him, her voice compassionate. "How are ye?"

"I'm fine," he answered, looking in confusion to Snape. He wasn't sure what to say.

"It was a sham," Snape told her, rescuing Harry. "I'm sure we can trust your discretion."

"How was it a sham?" she asked, flabbergasted. "You fooled Lucius Malfoy?"

"We wanted to free Dobby," Harry explained. "We've been planning it for a month."

"So that all with the volcano? That was for wee Dobby?" Fiona asked, her mouth open in surprise.

"Yes," Snape answered, his voice slightly proud. "Harry orchestrated this whole operation with his friends, and each took a part. They knew, however, that Malfoy would blame someone and Harry volunteered to be the scapegoat."

"I couldn't let someone else do it," Harry laughed. "I'm the only one that had been beaten before, you know? So I could deal with it better."

"I couldn't let him do it," Snape admitted, cursing the boy's Gryffindor bravery. Snape definitely had the feeling that he could teach Harry to think a bit and plan, but that bravery would always be the core of who he was.. "It would not have killed him, I know, and it may have even taught him to be more cautious. But I just couldn't stand by and see it done, so I cast a charm."

"A cushioning charm would no fool the likes of Malfoy," she looked at Snape, suspicious.

"This is a special charm," Snape explained. "A schoolfriend of mine and I developed it while I was in Hogwarts. It is a variation on a cushioning charm, but not for the entirety of the blow. A small percentage of the force gets through, and it also inflames the skin enough that, when paired with the glamor part of the charm, it appears to leave welts on the skin. The welts last for the normal length of time, but cause very little pain. They just feel a bit itchy to remind the one who has the welts to act as if they're hurt."

"It sounds like that charm, well, ye needed it often," she said softly to Snape. She had known the first half of the story, and this was just another piece of it.

"Indeed, I did," Snape admitted. "It was most effective."

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"I've not used it since I came of age," he admitted. "Voldemort only used spells rather than beating to discipline his followers, and the other times that I might have used it, I chose not to."

"Then why now?" Harry asked. "We fooled Malfoy once before."

"There was no way out of it this time," Snape told him with a sigh. "Malfoy was determined to beat you, and to make me watch. That display was as much for my benefit as yours. There was no way to convince him that I could discipline you."

"Why for your benefit?" he asked.

"Do you really not know?" Snape asked, surprised. "He was telling me that I was under his power. I made it clear I did not support his caning you, but I submitted to his request, acting as if I was worried about his opinion or his power. This puts me in an excellent place to continue spying, but I couldn't do that at your expense, Harry."

"How very Slytherin of ye," Fiona smirked. "Ye protected your son, cultivated yer spy network, and freed a wee elf all in an afternoon."

"Harry helped," Snape smiled. "He did yelp a bit as the cane was applied."

"Then ye have no need of me?" Fiona asked, looking down at the angry-looking welts on Harry's back.

"I was just going to look at his welts to make sure the spell is working properly, and maybe soothe the itch a bit," Snape replied. "Perhaps you could help with that?"

Fiona knelt down beside Harry and inspected the welts carefully. Harry had to admit they did itch just a bit, but the cooling salve Fiona applied to them took away even that small inconvenience.

"Why don't you let the lad apply the salve to his backside in private," Snape smirked. "We were going to have tea, would you join us Madame?"

"Call me Fiona," she told him, dimpling prettily. "I would love t' stay. I haven't seen ye two since that New Year's party at the Weasley's."

"Yes, it has been a while," Snape replied, the tips of his ears reddening. "We didn't have as much dinner in the excitement so I thought I'd order sandwiches as well."

"Sounds lovely," she replied. "Thank ye for the invitation."

They had sat down to tea, with Harry studiously putting away as many sandwiches as he thought polite. He realized he hadn't eaten much that day, he had been too worried about the outcome. With a smile, Harry pretended that his backside was sore as he sat himself down carefully with a hiss.

"Harry!" Fiona gasped in surprise. "Are ye hurt? Do ye need treatment on yer backside, lad?"

Snape looked at him critically, and then garumphed with a glare. "He's fooling you, Fiona," Snape told her. "For what purpose, Harry?"

"Just practicing," Harry said with a cheeky grin. "It's what I need to be doing tomorrow, right? Everyone should think the caning was real."

"Don't scare our guest," Snape snapped, but with no real bite in it.

"How did you know?" Harry asked, still cheeky and grabbing a sandwich.

"Your lips get pale when you're in pain," Snape answered. "And you would be trying to hide it so I wouldn't look at your backside, not grimacing and hissing like that for all to see."

"Harry!" Sirius burst through the door. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Harry replied, promptly standing up. "Fine. Really, I'm alright."

"That's not what it sounded like through the door," Sirius told him, glaring. "It sounded like you got the cane right proper."

Harry looked at Snape, and Snape sighed. "Surely you realize that this cannot become common knowledge, but I cast a spell to protect Harry. He is unharmed."

"WIcked!" Sirius approved. "You have got to teach me that spell!"

"I most certainly will not," Snape told him, his eyes narrowing. "You deserve anything you get from Remus."

"It was brilliant, though, Harry!" Sirius exclaimed. "Everything went off perfectly!"

"Is Dobby alright?" Harry asked.

"He's brilliant," Sirius told him. "Dumbledore has bundled him off to the kitchens already. Everyone else had to go home right after, but I skipped ahead to see you. Remus is behind me."

"Here now," Remus said, knocking on the door that Sirius had accidently left open. "How are you, Harry?"

"I'm fine," Harry answered. "Dad cast a spell for me so I wasn't hurt."

"Complicated spell, that," Remus observed. "Very lifelike glamor, it's tied into actual irritation, I assume."

"It is," Snape answered, his ears reddening.

"Good work," Remus nodded, with a look of understanding at Snape. Even though Snape knew the man had no gifts as a Legilimens, he could feel Remus putting the pieces together. "Very clever."

"Nobody else should know," Snape told them. "If anybody asks, just say that it's very fortunate that Harry has a Potions Master for a father."

Sirius nodded, grinning. "You'll be a hero, Harry."

"We all are," Harry answered. "That was just my part. I'm just glad Dobby's safe."

As if on cue, there was a pop! and Dobby appeared beside Harry.

"Master Harry sir!" he exclaimed, nearly in tears. "He beat poor master! Oh my master, Dobby is so sorrys."

"It's fine, Dobby," Harry told him. "Really. It's fine."

"But your accident freed poor Dobby! And poor master was punished."

"I'm fine now, Dobby," Harry assured him. "And it was worth it if If it means you are free, then I am perfectly happy."

"You are a good master," Dobby sniffed. "So good."

"I am not your master, Dobby," Harry told him softly. "Nobody is. You're free."

"Then what is Dobby to you, Harry?" he asked, sniffing.

"My friend," Harry smiled. "Please come visit me whenever you want. SIrius says you're working at Hogwarts now."

"Headmaster Dumbledore says Dobby can be here if Dobby wants, but can leave if Dobby wants," Dobby sniffed. "And now Dobby has a friend."

"And friends are the most important thing," Harry smiled at him.


	36. Chapter 36 - Dénouement

_AN: This is the final official chapter, but there will be an epilogue of at least one chapter. Fiona haters may want to pretend that chapter 35 is the last chapter and skip to the end. There will be an extensive author note at the end of this chapter._

* * *

That night, with an overexcited Harry finally tucked up into bed, Snape came out into his living area to Fiona. She of course had made her polite excuses and had gotten up to leave when Lupin did, but Snape has asked her to stay. She was never really sure what the mysterious potions master was thinking, but she found herself eager to stay and to spend more time with him. She had never met a man like him before - so full of contradictions, but seemingly so dedicated to doing what was right. He looked the part of a death eater that was for sure - dark hair, dark clothes, pale skin. He never smiled, and she could see him watching everything with careful scrutiny. But when he looked at that child, that little Harry, his whole face changed. Not smiling, really, just more - a softening. In the eyes that otherwise would look like a black abyss, she saw - care. Love. Attachment. And she found those eyes very attractive.

Did she like Severus? That was a complicated question. She surely liked what she had seen, but she had not gotten to her age by having her head turned easily. She had not been a nun - she had certainly dated a fellow or two - but it had never involved her heart. At least not at the same time - she had certainly pined after her share of men that saw her as a friend or confidant rather than a date. She knew she wasn't beautiful, and she knew she looked nothing like the fashionable people. Her hair was thick and unmanageable, and she tended to wear it mostly trapped as well as she could trap it. She had never quite gotten the hang of makeup very well, though in recent years she had been wearing a bit of lipstick on occasion. Her body - well, it was strong and capable, as well as softly rounded and remarkably unfashionable. She knew that most wizards wanted wives that looked like Narcissa Malfoy - calm, cool, thin, and perfectly poised. FIona knew that she was none of those things.

And there was that kiss on New Year's Eve. She had meant it to be a friendly kiss really, like the peck she had given Lupin. But instead of his cheek, she got his lips and their lips linked together electrically. She had never felt like that when she was kissed before - it felt as if everything in her body came alive. It had left her breathless, and seriously wondering if there was anything she could do to interest the Potion Master. Her heart had began hoping at the apology note he had sent, but since then nothing. He had seemed aloof and distant, and she had nearly given up the hope of an invitation somewhere when she got the summons from Lupin to help Harry.

She would of course had gone anyway, especially after everything that she had done with Lupin and Snape regarding Sirius, but she was also hoping to see the Potion Master. And then to see him so relaxed, almost shamefaced that he had been so soft as to rescue Harry from the effects of a caning. And she had seen his embarrassment and guessed his secret correctly - he had developed that spell to protect himself as a child. That took a great amount of magic and control, especially because it would have to be cast wordlessly and perhaps even wandlessly. But he had looked away in embarrassment, and she suddenly saw Snape for who he really was. He wasn't aloof and condescending, he was inexperienced. Not that she had been experienced either, but she realized that he perhaps never really knew what to say to her. But did he like her? It was so hard to tell.

And then, at seemingly the most awkward of times, he invited her to stay after Lupin and SIrius left. She dampened down her hopes, telling herself it was just to discuss Sirius' condition or how often the salve should be applied to Harry. Surely he didn't want to talk to her.

"How often should that salve be applied?" Snape asked, pouring her a cup of tea.

"Twice a day," she replied. "It's no strictly necessary, but more for comfort, poor lad. And he would ha' been far worse if no for yer spell."

"Indeed," he nodded, taking his own cup. "I am glad it ended as it did. And they were even successful in their first plot."

"It sounds like you would like to make him into a Slytherin," she laughed.

"The idea has its appeal," Snape smirked. "But I would be very surprised if he ends up in the house of snake."

"Is he a Ravenclaw, then?" FIona asked. "We would be happy to have him."

"I believe his house will be Gryffindor," Snape said with a grimace. "It has taken me several calming draughts to reconcile me to this near certainty."

"His parents were," Fiona nodded. "It makes sense that he would be as well."

"I suppose," Snape grimaced. "At least I can try to get him to think a bit more. He has a fine mind."

"Is the tea fine for you, Madame, or would you like something stronger?"

"How many times must I ask you to call me FIona?" she dimpled. "And yes, a wee drop of something stronger would not go amiss."

Snape nodded, and went to pour them each a glass. "Here you are, _Fiona_ ," he told her, smirking, handing her a glass with amber liquid in it.

"Thank ye, Severus," she replied, smiling. The man definitely seemed more relaxed than she had seen him before. She took a sip and then smiled appreciatively, "This is verra good Scotch."

"I hoped you would be impressed," he told her.

FIona nearly choked at his comment. He wanted to impress her? What? Fiona began to feel as if Snape was trying to connect with her. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

"Thank you for caring for my son," Snape told her. "I appreciate how much care you've given him this year."

"'Tis my job," she smiled. "Just as it is yours."

"I never saw myself as a father," Snape admitted. "Especially having never married."

"Lots of people become parents without the benefit of marriage," she quipped.

Snape looked at her levelly, and said, "But they usually date a bit first."

"Have ye no dated, then?"

"It is not in the usual death eater repertoire," he nodded.

"But Voldemort was defeated nearly ten years ago," she protested. "Surely you've been able to have a bit of a social life since then."

"I do not think that I have much to offer a woman," Snape admitted. "I'm sure you may have noticed that I am a bit, well, not necessarily the nicest person."

"Are you referring to the time you called me a middle aged spinster? Or a harridan?"

Snape's ears reddened, and she laughed. "Severus, your comments just made me feel feisty and like I wanted to fight back with you."

"I tend to intimidate most people," Snape smirked. "Usually a good glare from me will send most women packing."

"We Scots are made of sterner stuff," she laughed. "Ye do no scare me, Severus Snape. Despite yer best efforts."

"I never made a concerted effort to scare you, Madame," he intoned. "But you have a habit of overhearing things at inopportune times."

"Fiona," she corrected, smirking. "But ye were threatening to skelp m' patient! And ye would no let me examine him!"

"I was distraught," Snape told her, brushing an imaginary speck off of his knee. "I was afraid for his life."

"I ken that!" she laughed. "I've seen many patients w' loving fathers in the same boat."

"I am gratified that you see me as a loving father," he answered, nodding his head. "That boy is the most important thing in my life."

"Any fool could see that, Severus," she looked at him levelly, finishing her Scotch. "It would be a foolish person indeed that would step between ye and yer lad."

"Harry has lost so much . . ."

"And it would be a foolish woman indeed who wouldn't understand that," she assured him. "If you ever do invite a woman in, that is."

"I'm not sure any woman would want to," he answered simply. "As I said, I am not the nicest person, and I can't imagine being romantic. My adopted son had to teach me how to hug, and I work at a boarding school. I also know I'm not, shall we say, classically handsome."

"Let me tell ye what I see," she told him quietly. "I see a good man, a loving father, an experienced teacher, and a man that believes deeply enough to put his life on the line. I can't see how a woman wouldn't be attracted to that."

Snape felt encouraged by his words, and took a breath to steady himself. "What I'm trying to say, most inarticulately, is that I would love to have the honor of taking you out to dinner," he said, not looking up into her eyes.

"Thank you, Severus," she told him formally. "I accept your invitation."

He looked up at her quickly, as if he couldn't believe that she had agreed, and a slow smile crept across his face. "Very well. Would tomorrow night be convenient for you?"

"It would," she answered with a smile. "Thank you very much. Should I floo here?"

"Yes," he told her. "Six o'clock? Then we can go to the restaurant from here."

"That sounds fine," she told him, standing up. "I will see you tomorrow, then."

Snape stood up with her, and then as if on instinct, he wrapped his arms around her. Fiona, feeling his arms encircling her in a friendly but uncertain way, began to feel her heart dance as she realized he was going to try and kiss her cheek in farewell. She offered up her cheek, and felt his lips uncertainly peck her there. She then turned to face him, and their eyes caught each other. Slowly and deliberately, he bent down and their lips touched gently but firmly. Fiona felt as if blood were rushing past her ears, and her feet had lifted right off the floor. The kiss, uncertain but seeking, glued them together just a moment, and then they broke apart, feeling breathless.

"I am a Parson's daughter, Severus," she laughed. "I'm not sure you should be able to kiss me like that."

Snape smirked, realizing that she had really enjoyed his kiss. "I'm sure we could find many more things to make your father object."

"There are some limits," her eyes flashed at him, and she smiled assuredly. "We have to remain respectable, now."

"Of course," Snape answered, his eyes looking hungry. "We shall talk about it tomorrow over dinner. Until then."

He released her with a soft kiss to her hand, and she walked over to the floo in a daze. Had a woman actually kissed him? Had she wanted to go on a date? Harry had certainly softened him up! As he watched her step into the floo and disappear, he thought about how much Harry really had changed him in the past two years. He would never have asked a woman on a date before, but it was more than that. Before he had merely vague longings he never suspected he could have for things like wife and family. Even with Harry he was softer but still mostly himself. With Fiona, he felt himself unraveling. Not in a bad, crazy sort of way but as a sense of loosening. The knots that had been tied so tightly by his father were now coming lose, and he was eager to see what life was going to be like.

* * *

 _AN: Thank you for being with me in this journey through three installments of this book. Supporters, readers, reviewers and fellow writers have been so encouraging for me and has kept me writing this story. It has been incredibly fun to write, and the Snape/Harry dynamic has always been attractive to me. I have decided to do a sequel that will be told from Sirius' point of view, so when I do a few chapters and see how it's panning out I will most likely be up for posting, so maybe sometime next week. Otherwise, enjoy the ending and I hope to have the epilogue done tomorrow._


	37. Chapter 37 - Epilogue

_AN: My fanfiction has fanfiction! It's true! Following the epilogue that I wrote is posted a very funny Omake (I had to look it up too) written by RUGoing2writethat. Enjoy. I am going to mark this fiction as complete, but am still toying with a bit more of an epilogue. And, when I get the sequel started, I will post on here to let everyone know. Thanks again!_

Snape sat at the teacher's table, sweating and nearly shaking in anticipation. He had of course seemed cool to everyone that day, including one very over-excited eleven year old, but in reality he was as excited and nervous as Harry. This was the day he would be sorted, and this was the day that his suspicions would be confirmed.

Snape had told everyone far and wide that he believed Harry to be a Gryffindor, and he knew why he had done this. It was because this was his greatest fear, and by naming it like he did then he wouldn't be caught off guard. But now that it was time, he found himself desperately wishing for another answer. _Please be Ravenclaw,_ he begged the hat silently _. The boy has a fine mind, he would be great there._ He didn't feel as if he could ask for Slytherin, so he was asking for a lesser evil. Even Hufflepuff would be better, but Snape knew better than that. Though loyal, he was not good-natured enough to be Hufflepuff.

Snape watched as the line of scared first-years approached the hat and were sorted one by one. He expressed surprise that Miss Granger was a Gryffindor, he had thought for sure she was a Ravenclaw. But then again, she was very brave at times too, Snape reasoned. Maybe that blind bravery overtook her intellect. Draco was of course a Slytherin, the hat had not even been fully on his head when it had announced the boy's house. Snape laughed, he knew Draco was exactly what Slytherin looked for.

Snape thought to the conversation they'd had last night at supper when Fiona had joined Harry and him in their quarters to welcome in the new school year. Over their meal of corned beef, she vehemently listed the many reasons why she saw Harry as a Ravenclaw. Snape had countered with his own list of how he would be a Slytherin, and the good-natured banter continued through dessert.

"Will it hurt to be sorted?" Harry had asked them, a little worried. "Fred says that it hurts like fire, and some first years don't survive it."

"Utter nonsense," SNape replied firmly. "It is no more painful than putting any other hat on your head. The sorting hat simply looks at your mind and potential, and assigns it from there."

"No matter where I go I won't be with some of my friends," he complained. "Draco is sure he will be in Slytherin, just like Ron is sure he'll be in Gryffindor."

"You can still be friends even from different houses," Fiona explained to him. "It's a bit harder, maybe, but still very possible. One of my best friends in school was a Hufflepuff."

"Are you going to visit us here very much Fiona?" Harry asked her hopefully. "It was so much fun to have you come to dinner over the summer."

"Probably a bit less than before," Fiona smiled, eyeing Snape. "But you should see me once or twice a week. I have a job and a flat in London, remember."

"I wish you could just stay here with us," Harry asked her plaintively.

Snape choked on his food, and received several sharp blows between his shoulder blades before he felt that he could breathe again. Drinking down some of his wine to fortify himself, he answered with some semblance of calm, "She cannot stay here, Harry. It would not be seemly."

"I heard it was called shacking up," Harry said, his eyes bright.

Severus began choking again, and this time Fiona answered mildly, "Where did you here that term, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "Ron said that one of his cousins did it, and everyone was in an uproar. I don't see the problem though, I would even let you share my room, Fiona. It would be so fun to have you here."

"It is inappropriate for unmarried witches and wizards to live together before they are married," Snape told his son, finally being able to breath again. "Fiona and I are unmarried."

"So get married then," Harry told them, studiously scraping the last of his chocolate pudding out of his bowl. "Wouldn't that just be the easiest thing?"

Fiona patted Severus' back again as he choked, and she found herself smirking at the precocious child. In a year or two he would be much wiser as to the meaning of his words, but for now she could enjoy his innocence.

"It is something not to be entered into lightly," Fiona tried to explain to Harry. "It has been a big adjustment for us to be dating each other, let alone marriage. You'll have to let us take our time, Harry. And in the meantime, I will make sure to see you at least once a week. Is that a deal?"

"Deal," Harry answered, his eyes glinting.

Remembering that interaction, Snape had to smile. He had worried about jealousy with Fiona as there had been with Sirius, but he was surprised at how well Fiona did at respecting their relationship and engaging Harry for himself. She had effectively circumvented his jealousy about his dad by making Harry a sort of friend while encouraging his relationship with his Dad. Severus saw the brilliance of her plan, and Harry ended up adoring her almost as much as Snape himself. He had been serious about sharing his room.

McGonagall announcing, "Potter, Harry!" snapped him back into the current time, and he saw as a hush descended on the Hogwarts hall. Most students were at least somewhat used to the idea of Harry being there by now, but everyone wanted to know which house got him.

Snape watched, breathless, as the hat was placed on Harry's head. Harry waited curiously as the hat was placed there, wondering what it would be like. He didn't think it would hurt, he was pretty sure Draco would have let out a howl if it had.

"Harry Potter, how very difficult to place," the hat told him in a gravelly, growly voice. "Hmm, loyal, a fine mind, plenty of courage, lots of cunning . . . Where to put you?"

"Please either Slytherin or Gryffindor," Harry thought loudly into the hat.

"Either house you would do well," the hat told him. "It's all here. You could be great, you know, and Slytherin would help you learn the cunning. I see you have learned some already with your incidence with Dobby. Yes, I see it all here. You developed and executed an excellent plan. But what is this? Giving yourself selflessly instead of protecting yourself? Well, I know what I'm going to have to do for that, you need to be with others who would do that too. Better be Gryffindor!"

Harry heard cheers erupt, and Fred and George becoming ecstatic at the announcement that he would go there. A few even began a chant of, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" but it died down as the potion master rose and glared at the entire Gryffindor table. They knew enough to be scared of Snape. Harry grinned at the glowering man and waved, taking his seat next to Ron and Hermione.

Snape took a calming draught out of his pocket and downed it, not caring who saw him taking the potion. This confirmed all of his suspicions, Harry would selflessly sacrifice himself for the good of others. Merlin help him parenting him through adolescence.

The End

* * *

The Omake by RUGoing2writethat

Harry was lying face down on his bed and Severus had just finished applying some of the muggle salve to Harry. He really hated Lucius Malfoy right now, but the man had valuable connections and political power. Still, if he'd had the Prince Family connections, he could have easily disposed of Malfoy and been done. The Prince Family had once been the Wizard World's own magical mafia. They were a family you did not cross; those that crossed them, disappeared forever. It is too bad they were enamoured of the pureblood fanaticism. If they had been a bit more open about muggleborns, they might have kept their family power. When his grandparents disowned his mother, they did so in the pureblood tradition, which meant she was no longer a Prince by status. She was still a Prince by blood and magic but as far as the family was concerned, she did not exist.

When Severus was born, his grandparents made a small concession; they paid for his 7 years of tuition but nothing else. When they died, he inherited 1000 galleons; the rest of the fortune had been whittled away by two dark lords.

And because their shady activities were kept underground and disconnected from their names, they had been one of the most respected pureblood families on the Wizengamot, holding as much sway and influence as the Blacks or the Potters held.

Anyway, Dumbledore had just entered the room to apologize to Harry as well, when there was a pop. Maisie. Severus had forgotten to inform the house elf of what was really going on.

"Oh, my poors poors Harry. Did that bad bad man beats yous? Don'ts yous worries; Maisie is heres to helps yous gets alls betters," said Maisie, hugging Harry who looked a bit confused.

"I am helping him Maisie," said Severus.

"YOU! Allowings that bad bad man to beats my poors Harry. Nos favorites foodses fors yous fors a weeks!" she said, shaking her finger at Severus. Dumbledore cleared his throat, possibly to hide a snicker.

"AND YOU! Beings the headmasters of this schools and yous did nothings to prevent my Harry from being beatens! If you were my masters, you would have no candy or dessert for a week," she said, turning to the Headmaster, who went gray at her proclamation of a week without sweets.

"Nows out, both of yous. My Harry needs rests. Out, shoo shoo!" said Maisie shooing them both out of Harry's room, and firmly shutting the door. Severus thought he saw a brief smirk on Harry's face, as if amused by Maisie's antics.

Severus looked at Dumbledore who looked at Severus.

"Well, at least we know he's well cared for..." said Dumbledore.

"Indeed, and well protected," said Sirius.

Sadly, that would be a bad week for Dumbledore, for Maisie made sure the Hogwarts elves heard about what happened and her declaration. Dumbledore found himself without sugar in his tea, without dessert at the table, and not a single candy anywhere in his office. By the end of the week, he was so high strung from withdrawals that only Minerva dared approach him. That Sunday when he drank his tea and found it to be sweet, he jumped for joy and scared half of Hufflepuff house.

Severus had no easier time; it seems that declaring a week without his favorite foods meant any food that he even remotely liked. He ended up having to eat liver and onions, brussel sprouts w/o cheese or butter, and other foods that he would never choose to eat. He also went without sugar in his tea. Although he did get dessert, it was dessert that he did not like as well, such as pear and coconut cake, something he would not touch with a 10 foot pole.

Harry, on the other hand, found himself eating his favorite foods for each meal. Although when he tried to share his dessert with his dad, he got his hand slapped by Maisie, who told him no sharing. This amused him though he made sure to hide it from his dad.


	38. Chapter 38 - sequel started!

The sequel is started! It is called Sirius and Harry, Age 11 and I just posted the first chapter. Please join me on the next part of the journey!

Just a review:

Harry Potter age 8 - the Dursleys die and Harry becomes a ward of Severus Snape, who starts out as cruel and cold but eventually cares about Harry. Harry is rescued from Walburga Black and a deranged House Elf.

Harry Potter age 9 - Harry starts a preschool that is taught by Lupin at Hogwarts, and continues in his relationship with Snape. Snape ends up rescuing him from an evil teacher's assistant bent on murder and revenge, and ends up adopting Harry at the end.

Harry Potter age 10 - Harry is kidnapped by Sirius Black but ends up rescuing him and a team effort kills Peter Pettigrew. Sirius is regressed in age to give him another chance at attachment with his caregiver Remus and a second childhood after the horrors of Askaban. Dobby is also rescued.


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